■■'■*'■ 


Ml 

Mil 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

Publication  157. 

Anthropological  Series.  Vol.  XI,  No.  2 


BRIEF   MISCELLANEOUS 
HOPI  PAPERS 


BY 
H.    R.    VOTII 


The  Stanley  McCormick  Hopi  Expedition 


George  A.  Dorsev 
Curator,  Department  of  Anthropology 


45100 

Chicago,  U.  S.  A. 

February,  191 2 


BRIEF    MISCELLANEOUS   HOPI   PAPERS 


BY 

H.  R.  Voth. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Paper  Page 

I.     Notes  on  Modern  Burial  Customs  -  99 

II.  Notes  on  the  Eagle  Cult  of  the  Hopi 105 

III.  The  Oraibi  New  Year  Ceremony in 

IV.  Tawa  Baholawu  of  the  Oraibi  Flute  Societies 121 

V.  Four  Hopi  Tales 137 

VI.     Hopi  Marriage  Rites  on  the  Wedding  Morning 145 


Plats. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 

XXXIX. 

XL. 

XLI. 

XI. II. 


XLIII. 

XLIV. 

XLV. 

XLVI. 

XLVII. 

XLVIII. 

XLIX. 

L. 

LI. 

LII. 

LIII. 

LIV. 

LV. 

LVI. 

LVII. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Opposite  Paob 

A  children's  burial  place,  top  view 99 

A  children's  burial  place,  side  view 100 

General  graveyard  near  Second  Mesa 100 

General  graveyard  near  Oraibi i°' 

Children's  graves,  top  and  side  views 101 

Man  taking  prayer  offerings  to  the  grave 102 

Hopi  depositing  offerings  on  the  grave  of  his  children  -       -       -  103 

Eagle  burial  ground i°7 

The  eagle  in  captivity "'7 

A.  An  eagle  on  the  roof. 

B.  A  kiva  (ceremonial  chamber). 

Dolls  representing  the  Eagle  Katcina 107 

Catching  and  killing  the  eagle 108 

Plucking  the  eagle  and  assorting  the  feathers         -       -       -       -  108 

Taking  the  body  to  the  eagle  graveyard 108 

The  burying  of  the  eagles 108 

Priests  with  sun  symbols 109 

Eagle  racks io9 

Pots  for  watering  eagles 109 

Altar  of  the  New  Year  ceremony      - 116 

The  Kwan  kiva  and  natsi "7 

Xaashashtiwa,  chief  Kwan  Priest "8 

Priests  and  partial  New  Year  altar 119 

Diagram  of  Drab  Flute  Baholawu 126 

Various  prayer  offerings 129 

Artificial  corn-stalks '.V» 


I.    NOTES  ON   MODERN   BURIAL   CUSTOMS 

BY 
H.    R.    VOTH. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,    PL.  XXXIV. 


Photo  by  G.  W.  James.     Courtesy  of  the  Pass.  Dept.  of  the  A.  T.  &  S.  Fe.  Ry. 


PL.  XXXIV. 
Children's  burial  places,  top  view.     The  piles  of  the  smaller  stones  at  the  edge 
of  the  mesa,  on  some  of  which  sticks  and  food  bowls  may  be  seen,  indicate  the  crevice 
graves. 


NOTES   ON    MODERN    BURIAL    CUSTOMS   OF    THE 
HOPI1   OF   ARIZONA 

i.     Introduction. 

The  belief  in  a  future  state  and  in  a  continued  existence  after  death 
is  well  defined  in  the  religious  conception  and  in  many  rites  and  cere- 
monies of  the  Hopi.  That  part  of  man  which  they  believe  to  be  im- 
mortal they  call  hikvsi.  The  fundamental  meaning  of  this  term  seems 
to  coincide  with  that  expressed  by  the  Hebrew  "ruach,"  the  German 
"Hauch"  or  the  Greek  "pneuma."  In  its  practical  application  the 
hikvsi  is  to  the  Hopi  what  to  us  is  the  soul  in  its  ethical  sense.  At 
death  the  hikvsi  leaves  the  body.  When  asked  whether  it  is  this 
hikvsi  or  the  deceased  person  that  continues  to  live  in  the  skeleton 
house,  the  average  Hopi  may  get  confused.  He  knows  that  the  body 
of  the  dead  decays,  and  believes  that  it  is  by  virtue  or  through  the 
part  that  escapes  from  the  body  through  the  mouth  at  death,  that  the 
dead  continue  their  existence  in  the  future  world.  The  details,  with 
regard  to  this  fact,  are  more  or  less  vague  in  the  mind  of  the  Hopi,  and 
vary  considerably  in  the  different  traditions,  clans  and  villages. 

This  belief  in  a  future  state  is  not  only  manifested  again  and  again 
in  the  different  ceremonies  of  the  Hopi,  but  it  also  plays  a  conspicuous 
part  in  their  burial  customs,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  following  pages. 

2.     The  Death  Chamber. 

While  with  civilized  nations  illness  and  impending  death  usually 
draws  sympathy  and  helping  hands  to  the  place  of  affliction  it  is, 
as  a  rule,  not  so  with  the  Hopi.  To  be  sure,  families  visited  by  severe 
sickness  or  death  will  usually  not  be  left  entirely  to  themselves,  but  it 
is,  generally,  only  either  father  or  mother  or  some  other  of  the  older 
relatives  of  the  bereaved  that  manifest  sympathy  or  renders  assistance. 
As  a  rule  the  sick,  for  whom  little  hope  of  recovery  exists,  and  the 
dying  are  deserted  by  most  of  the  relatives  and  friends.  A  few  cases  out 
of  very  many  that  came  to  the  notice  of  the  author,  may  be  cited  to 
illustrate  this  fact.  Case  i :  Coming  into  a  room  one  day  I  found  two 
young  women  whom  I  was  well  acquainted  with,  sitting  close  together, 
silently  weeping.     They  were  sisters.     Before  them  lay  a  beautiful 

1  While  these  customs  are  essentially  the  same  on  the  three  mesas,  these  brief  observations  refer 
more  particularly  to  the  village  of  Oraibi. 

99 


ioo    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XI. 

little  child,  dying.  Upon  my  inquiry  where  the  father  of  the  child 
was,  they  told  me,  in  one  of  the  kivas  (underground  rooms).  I  im- 
mediately went  there  and  found  him  at  work.  When  I  asked  him  wheth- 
er he  knew  that  his  only  child  was  dying,  he  at  first  would  not  answer, 
but  finally  began  to  abuse  his  wife  and  accuse  her  of  being  the  cause 
of  the  child's  illness  and  death.  I  reasoned  with  him,  but  could  not 
persuade  him  to  go  home  and  to  share  the  bereavement  with  his  broken- 
hearted wife.  Case  2.  A  young  woman,  who  had  been  confined,  be- 
came very  ill,  as  far  as  I  could  learn,  with  puerperal  fever.  Her  husband 
did  not  seem  to  show  any  interest  in  her  whatsoever  and  when  he  was 
told  one  day,  that  she  had  died  and  been  buried,  he  seemed  to  be  utterly 
unconcerned  about  the  matter  and  afterward  completely  ignored  the 
little  child  his  wife  had  left  him.  Even  when  this  child  died,  two  years 
later,  he  did  not  seem  to  show  any  interest  in  it  whatsoever.  The  aged 
grandparents,  who  had  taken  care  of  the  little  orphan,  prepared  the 
little  corpse  all  alone  and  put  it  into  a  large  rock  crevice,  pushing  aside 
the  bones  of  its  little  brother  who  had  been  buried  there  four  years 
previously.  Case  3:  One  day  I  went  through  the  village  and  was 
looking  among  others,  after  an  old  grandmother  to  whose  wants  we  had 
administered  since  my  wife  had,  one  cold  December  morning,  found  her 
nearly  frozen  near  a  spring  not  far  from  our  house.  When  I  looked  into 
her  little  room  I  found  her  unconscious  on  her  sleeping  place  on  the 
floor.  It  was  in  the  afternoon  and  none  of  her  numerous  relatives  had 
concerned  themselves  about  the  sick,  aged  woman.  Soon  I  found 
one  of  her  sons,  a  man  about  53  years  old,  in  one  of  the  kivas  where  he 
was  eating.  He  said  he  knew  that  his  mother  had  seemed  to  be  very 
sick  in  the  morning;  that  he  had  placed  a  morsel  of  food  and  a  cup  of 
water  by  her  side  and  had  then  gone  to  herd  sheep;  but  instead  of 
hurrying  to  his  dying  mother  first  of  all,  upon  his  return,  of  whom  he 
knew  that  she  had  been  left  all  to  herself,  he  had  first  gone  to  his  house, 
gotten  some  food  for  himself  and  was  eating  it  apparently  with  utter 
unconcern.  Case  4:  A  little  girl,  that  had  been  sick  with  consumption 
for  quite  a  while,  died  during  the  night.  As  far  as  I  could  learn  only 
the  immediate  family  had  been  present  at  her  death.  As  soon  as  the 
usual  preparations  of  the  body  could  be  made,  the  father  wrapped  it 
into  blankets  and  carried  it  In  the  dark  night,  not  accompanied  by  any 
one,  on  his  back  along  a  narrow,  lonely  trail  over  hills,  through  gulches, 
between  boulders,  up  a  mesa  and  there,  on  a  ledge,  he  removed  the 
stones  that  had  been  piled  over  a  large  crevice  and  placed  the  remains 
of  his  dead  child  with  those  of  several  others  that  had  been  "put  away" 
there;  replaced  the  stones  and  thrust  a  new  stick  between  them  as  a 
sign  of  the  new  inhabitant  of  that  dreary  family  burial  place.     When 


PL.  XXXV.    Children's  Burial  Places.  Side  View. 

A.  Graves  under  rocks,  showing  food  bowls. 

B.  Graves  in  large  crevice,  showing  sticks  in  stone  piles. 


PL.  XXXVI. 

General  graveyard  near  Second  Mesa. 


v^ 


■MUMJI 


if*  tM    ■  I' ; 


\\  ,■  '■■■  < 

m;'vM<>  Mi:' 

mmmmm. 


IVf"  :    T' 


PL.  XXXVII. 

General  graveyard  near  Oraibi. 


Pl.  XXXVIII.    Children's  Graves. 

A.  Graves,  showing  large  bowls. 

B.  Grave,  showing  side  view. 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  ioi 

he  carried  the  usual  prayer  offerings  and  food  to  the  grave  on  the  third 
day  I  followed  him  over  the  same  trail.  Case  5:  A  man  had  died  of 
gangrene  in  a  broken  leg.  As  the  unfortunate  man  had  had  several 
peculiar  attacks  during  his  life  it  was  extremely  difficult  to  get  any  one 
to  render  any  assistance  while  he  was  ill.  One  night,  while  we  had  left 
the  patient  to  the  care  of  his  aged  father  a  part  of  the  time,  the  man 
had  died  towards  morning  and  when  we  got  to  the  house  after  breakfast 
we  found  that  the  man  had  died  and  the  father,  with  the  assistance  of 
one  relative  had  wrapped  the  body  into  blankets,  taken  it  on  his  back, 
the  relative  supporting  the  legs,  and  the  two  men  had  thus  dragged  the 
very  heavy  corpse  to  a  graveyard  and  buried  him.  Other  similar 
cases  could  be  cited,  showing  that  death,  or  even  approaching  death, 
strikes  such  terror  to  the  Hopi  heart,  that  he  shuns  and  flees  the  sick- 
bed and  death-chamber  as  much  as  possible.  For  this  reason  he  does 
not  like  to  speak  or  hear  others  speak  about  the  dead,  however  much  he 
may  have  loved  them  and  he  prefers  to  say,  "they  are  gone"  or  "they 
have  gone  to  sleep"  to  saying,  "they  have  died." 

When  death  has  taken  place  those  that  are  present  cry  and  mourn 
but  do  not  lament  and  scream,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  observe  among 
other  tribes.  Occasionally  a  few  relatives  will  assemble  in  the  death- 
chamber  and  weep,  but  those  are  exceptions.  The  remains  are  at  once 
prepared  for  burial.  A  nakwakwosi  is  tied  to  the  hair  in  front.  The 
face  is  covered  with  a  layer  of  cotton,  with  openings  for  the  eyes  and 
for  the  nose,  which  is  tied  by  a  string  around  the  forehead  "to  hide 
themselves  in."  To  this  string  are  fastened  a  number  of  nakwakwosis 
which  they  are  supposed  to  wear  in  the  other  world.  Black  marks 
are  made  under  the  eyes  on  the  lips,  forehead,  cheeks  (I  think),  the 
palms  of  the  hands  and  the  soles  of  the  feet.1  Some  nakwakwosis2 
and  sometimes  a  little  food  and  a  small  vessel  with  drinking  water  is 
placed  on  the  chest.  The  body  is  then  wrapped  into  several  blankets 
around  which  ropes  are  wound,  and  it  is  then  carried  on  the  back  of  the 
father  or  some  relative,  or  on  a  horse  or  burrow  to  its  last  resting  place. 

3.    The  Burial  Places. 

If  the  deceased  be  a  child,  which  has  not  yet  been  initiated  into 
any  of  the  religious  societies,  the  little  body  is  placed  into  one  of  the 
many  crevices  along  the  edge  of  the  mesa,  on  which  the  village  is  situ- 
ated (see  Plates  XXXIV  and  XXXV). 

In  various  ceremonies  nakwakwosis  arc  prepared  for  the  dead  and 
deposited  in  shrines  and  other  places  where  the  dead  come  and  get 
those  prepared  for  them;  and  those  who  find  none  are  said  to  be  very 

1  The  faces  of  small  children  are  sometimes  only  daubed  with  corn-meal. 
1  Turkey  or  eagle  feathers  are  used. 


102    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XI. 

sorry  and  to  cry.  In  one  of  the  traditions  the  dead  in  the  other  world 
are  said  to  complain  to  a  visitor  from  this  world,  that  their  nakwakwosis 
before  their  faces  are  old  and  worn  and  that  their  friends  forget  to  pre- 
pare new  ones  for  them.1  If  the  burial  place  already  contains  the 
remains  or  bones  of  other  children,  that  have  died  in  that  particular 
family,  the  stones,  covering  them,  are  removed,  the  new  bundle  placed 
into  the  crevice  and  the  stones  replaced.  For  every  child  thus  burie 
a  stick,  from  one  to  two  feet  long,  is  thrust  between  the  rocks.  After 
the  covering  of  the  buried  remains  has  rotted  away,  the  scull  or  bones 
may  sometimes  be  seen  in  the  crevice  grave  (see  Plate  XXXV). 

In  the  case  of  grown  persons  or  in  fact,  anyone  that  is  already  a 
wimkya  (member)  of  some  fraternity,  the  body  is  buried  in  a  graveyard 
which  is  usually  on  a  slope  of  the  mesa  or  of  a  hill  near  the  mesa  (see 
Plate  XXXVI).  A  hole  from  five  to  seven  feet  deep  is  dug  and  the 
body  placed  into  it  in  a  sitting  posture  with  the  face  towards  the  east. 
The  hole  is  filled  up  with  the  earth  or  sand  and  usually  a  lot  of  stones 
placed  on  it  (see  Plate  XXXVII). 

These  burial  grounds  are  scattered  around  the  mesas ;  they  are  not 
marked  or  enclosed,  nor  taken  care  of  in  any  way  whatsoever.  It  not 
infrequently  happens,  that  either  the  windstorms  blow  away  the  sand 
exposing  the  bones  or  currents  of  water  from  the  high  mesas  break  their 
way  through  a  burial  place  and  carry  them  away. 

Tombstones  or  similar  signs  or  monuments,  marking  the  last  resting 
place  of  particular  individuals,  are  unknown;  but  certain  insignia, 
indicating  the  order  to  which  the  deceased  belonged,  are  occasionally 
placed  on  the  graves,  such  as  the  so-called  Marau-vahos  (see  my  paper 
on  the  Marau  ceremony),  which  are  placed  on  the  graves  of  women 
having  belonged  to  the  Marau  society,  or  mungkohos  which  may  be  found 
on  graves  of  members  of  the  Kwan  (Agave)  or  Ahl  (Horn)  or  other 
societies.  (See  Plate  LV  in  my  paper,  "The  Oraibi  Powamu 
Ceremony.") 

4.     Post-Mortem  Rites. 

On  the  third  day,  after  the  body  has  been  buried,  the  last  meal  and 
the  last  prayer  offerings  are  prepared.  The  first  consists  of  piki  (a 
thin  wafer  bread  baked  on  large  polished  stone  slabs),  cooked  beans, 
(oongawa),  and  sometimes  a  stew  of  corn,  meat,  herbs,  etc.,  (noekwiwi), 
is  prepared  by  the  woman,  mother,  wife,  aunt  or  other  near  relative. 
This  food  is  put  into  a  bowl  which  is  placed  on  the  grave  on  the  third 
day  where  it  remains  (see  Plates  XXXV  and  XXXVII).  The  father, 
brother  or  uncle  of  the  deceased,  that  has  prepared  the  remains  for 
burial,  now  makes  one  double  green  baho  (prayer  stick,  with  black 

1  See  the  author's  "Traditions  of  the  Hopi  Indians."  page  119. 


PL.  XXXIX. 

A.  Man  taking  prayer  offerings  to  the  grave. 

B.  Man  arranging  prayer  offerings  at  the  grave. 


PL.   XL. 


A.  Man,  praying  over  the  offerings  to  be  deposited  on  the  grave  of  his  children. 

B.  Depositing  the  prayer  offerings. 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  103 

points),  one  single  black  baho,  called  chochokpi  (seat),  a  puhu  (road), 
consisting  of  an  eagle  breath  feather.  To  this  are  tied  two  cotton 
strings,  a  shorter  one,  twisted  several  times,  the  other  a  single  thread, 
but  somewhat  longer.  Besides  this  he  makes  about  six  nakwakwosis. 
All  this  the  one  who  makes  the  prayer  offerings  takes  to  the  grave 
(see  Plate  XXXIX)  towards  evening  and  places  the  two  prayer 
sticks,  the  nakwakwosis,  some  corn-meal  and  the  bowl  with  food  on 
the  grave  (see  Plate  XL),  the  road  he  places  on  the  ground  west 
of  the  grave,  the  thin  string  pointing  westward.  From  this  road 
he  sprinkles  a  meal  line  westward  denoting  the  continuation  of  the 
road.  According  to  a  belief  of  the  Hopi  the  hikvsi  (breath  or  soul) 
of  the  deceased  ascends  early  the  next  morning  from  the  grave,  par- 
takes of  the  hikvsi  of  the  food,  mounts  the  hikvsi  of  the  seat  and 
then  travels  along  the  road  to  the  masski  (skeleton  house)  taking  the 
hikvsi  of  the  double  baho  along  as  an  offering.  (Comp.  Voth:  "Tra- 
ditions of  the  Hopi,"  pages  109  and  114.)  In  the  case  of  the  death 
of  a  small  child,  that  has  not  yet  been  initiated  into  any  societies, 
the  road  is  made  from  the  grave  towards  the  home  of  the  child. 
because  it  is  believed  that  the  soul  of  that  child  returns  to  the  house 
of  its  parents  and  is  reincarnated  in  the  next  child  that  is  born  in 
that  family.  Until  that  time  the  little  soul  is  believed  to  hover 
over  the  house.  It  is  said,  that  when  an  unusual  noise  is  heard  in  the 
house,  for  instance  a  crackling  in  the  roof,  they  think  the  little  soul  is 
moving  about  and  the  mother  then  often  secretly  deposits  a  pinch  of 
food  on  the  floor  in  some  part  of  the  house  for  her  departed  child .  When 
I  asked  one  time  what  became  of  that  child-soul  in  case  no  further  birth 
took  place  in  the  family,  I  was  told,  that  in  such  a  case  the  soul  remained 
near  the  house  until  its  mother  died,  who  then  took  the  little  soul  with 
her  to  the  other  world. 

Later  the  dead  are  sometimes  remembered  by  prayer  offerings  and 
food  in  such  ceremonies  as  the  Soyal,  Marau,  etc.  (See  the  "Oraibi 
Soyal  Ceremony"  by  Dorsey  and  Voth,  page  57,  and  my  paper  on 
the  "Oraibi  Marau  Ceremony,"  page  30.) 


II.  NOTES  ON  THE  EAGLE  CULT  OF  THE  HOPI 

BY 
H.  R.  VOTH. 


PL.  XLI. 

Eagle  burial  ground. 


PL.  XLII. 


A.  An  eagle  in  captivity  on  the  roof  of  a  house. 

B.  One  of  the  Irivas,  or  ceremonial  chambers,  in  which  most  of  the  eagle  feathers 
are  used  for  ceremonial  purposes. 


FIELD   MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY.  PL.  XLIII. 


jtftfA 


PL.  XLIII. 

Dolls,  representing  the  Eagle  Katcina. 


NOTES   ON  THE   EAGLE   CULT  AMONG  THE   HOPI 

INDIANS. 

As  among  other  uncivilized  people,  the  eagle  plays  a  very  conspicuous 
part  in  the  conception  of  the  traditions  of  the  Hopi,  especially  in  their 
religious  rites  and  ceremonies.  There  are  Eagle  clans,  Eagle  Katcinas, 
special  prayer  offerings  for  the  eagles,  eagle  burying  grounds  (see 
Plate  XLI),  etc. 

The  territory  around  the  Hopi  villages  where  eagles  may  be  found 
is,  and  has  been  from  time  immemorial,  divided  into  portions  or  allot- 
ments, which  are  controlled  by  certain  clans  and  families.  These  terri- 
tories extend  as  far  as  50  and  60  miles  from  the  villages.  The  informa- 
tion, regarding  this  apportionment,  is  somewhat  vague,  but  I  am  led 
to  believe  that  originally  the  Eagle  clan,  and  later  also  clans  related  to 
the  Eagle  clan,  were  the  only  ones  that  "owned"  the  eagles,  while  it 
appears  that  at  present  families  of  other  clans  also  share  that  privilege.1 
It  is  said  that  at  present,  the  Bear,  Spider,  Reed,  Young  corn,  Burrow- 
ing Owl,  Blue  Bird,  Bow,  Lizard,  Badger  and  Eagle  clan  of  Oraibi 
control  eagle  territory. 

Every  spring  hunting  expeditions  set  out  to  procure  young  eagles. 
These,  when  captured  in  their  roosts,  are  usually  tied  to  racks  (see 
Plate  XLIX)  and  canied  to  the  villages  where  they  aic  kept  on  the 
flat  house  tops,  tied  by  one  leg  to  some  beam,  rock  or  peg  to  prevent 
their  escape  (see  Plate  XLII).  Here  they  are  fed  with  rabbits,  field 
mice,  etc.,  until  about  July,  when  they  have  grown  to  full  size.  The 
number  of  birds,  thus  captured,  varies  very  much  in  different  years. 
One  year  there  were  thirty-five  in  the  village  of  Oiaibi  alone.  Among 
these  are  usually  also  various  kinds  of  hawks,  especially  a  certain 
large  kind,  which  the  Hopi  call  palakwahu  "red-eagle,"  the  feathers 
of  which  arc  used  very  extensively  for  prayer  offerings,  masks,  eagle 
shafts  etc. 

In  nearly  all  the  principal  ceremonies  the  eagles  are  remembered 
by  prayer  offerings,  prepared  for  them  by  the  priests.  These  consist 
usually  of  small  eagle  or  hawk  feathers,  tied  to  a  twisted  cotton  string, 
about  four  inches  long,  and  are  called  nakwakwosis.  These  nakwakwosis 
are  handed  to  those  priests  who  arc  part  owners  in  an  eagle  allotment, 

'Compare  "Property-Right  in  Eagles  among  the  Hopi"  by  Dr.  J.  Walter  Fewkes.  American 
Anthropologist.  Vol.  II.  No.  4. 

IO7 


108    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XI. 

and  who  deposit  them  with  some  sacred  meal  in  shrines,  devoted  to  the 
eagles.1 

During  the  winter  and  spring  months,  when  the  Katcina  cult  flour- 
ishes in  all  the  villages,  and  Katcinas  of  the  greatest  variety  may  be 
seen  in  the  different  ceremonies  and  dances,  Eagle  Katcinas,  i.  e., 
masked  Hopi  representing  eagles,  or  more  properly  speaking  an  Eagle 
deity,  may  occasionally  be  seen.  The  typical  features  of  this  person- 
age are  a  mask  with  an  artificial  eagle  beak  and  otherwise  representing 
the  head  of  an  eagle;  sometimes  large  eagle  feathers  are  fastened  to 
the  arms  and  to  the  back  part  of  the  costume  representing  the  wings 
and  tail  of  the  eagle  (see  Plate  XLIII).  These  Katcinas  receive 
prayer  offerings  at  the  dances,  which  they  deposit  at  Katcina  shrines 
"that  the  eagles  may  not  fail  to  lay  eggs  and  hatch  them  again  the 
next  year." 

On  the  day  after  the  great  Niman  (Farewell)  Katcina  ceremony  in 
July  all  the  eagles  in  the  village,  except  here  and  there  one  that  is  not 
fully  grown,  are  killed.  This  killing  is  done  at  about  eight  or  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  While  one  person  holds  the  rope,  another 
throws  a  blanket  over  the  eagle  and  carries  him  down  from  the  roof, 
choking  him  while  he  descends  (see  Plate  XLIV).  No  eagle  is  killed 
by  any  other  method.  When  life  is  extinct  the  feathers  are  plucked 
and  carefully  assorted  (see  Plate  XLV).  When  the  larger  feathers 
have  all  been  pulled  the  body  of  the  eagle  is  flayed  and  the  skin  with 
the  remaining  feathers  also  carefully  dried  and  preserved  on  account  of 
the  feathers.  Nakwakwosis  are  then  tied  to  the  wings  and  legs  of  the 
carcass  "that  the  eagles  should  not  be  angry  but  hatch  young  eagles 
again  the  next  year."  During  this  time  a  small  tray,  a  small  flat  doll 
and  a  few  rolls  of  blue  piki  (the  thin,  typical  Hopi  bread),  about  four 
inches  long  and  about  one  inch  thick,  are  prepared.  When  these 
preparations  are  completed  the  carcass,  the  prayer  offerings  and  a 
pointed  stick  are  taken  to  one  of  the  grave-yards  especially  devoted 
to  eagles  (see  Plate  XLI).  Here  a  hole  is  dug  in  the  ground  with 
the  pointed  stick,  and  the  eagle  body,  with  the  food,  placed  into  it 
(see  Plate  XLVII).  These  grave-yards  are  usually  located  from 
half  to  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  village. 

The  feathers,  thus  obtained  from  the  eagles,  are  used  for  many 
different  purposes,  mostly,  however,  ceremonial.  The  smaller  ones 
mostly  for  nakwakwosis,  that  have  only  one  twisted  string  and  for 
puhus,  that  have  one  twisted  and  one  single  string  attached  to  them. 
Of  these  two  kinds  thousands  are  made  on  many  different  occasions 

1  Mr.  C.  L.  Owen,  who  just  returned  from  the  Hopi-land  says:  "Small  vessels  are  often  placed 
near  rocks  where  eagles  are  supposed  to  hatch  and  to  roost,  which  are  from  time  to  time  filled  with 
water  and  also  a  pinch  of  meal  sprinkled  on  it.     (See  PI.  L). 


PL.  XLIV.    Catching  and  killing  the  Eagle. 

A.  The  capture  on  the  roof  of  the  house. 

B.  Choking  the  bird. 


PL.  XLV. 

A.  Plucking  the  eagle. 

B.  Assorting  the  feathers. 


PL.  -LXVI 


tfvi 


A.  Leaving  the  village  with  the  eagle  bodies. 

B.  Arriving  at  the  burial  ground. 


PL.  kXVII. 


Burying  the  eagles. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY.  PL.  XLVII. 


pl.  xlvmi. 

Priests  with  sun  symbols  on  their  backs,  in  which  eagle  tail  feathers  represent 
the  rays  of  the  sun. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  PL.  XLIX. 


PL.  XLIX. 

Racks  on  which  the  young  eagles  are  fastened  and  carried  to  the  villages  after 
their  capture. 


PL.   L. 

Pots  in  which  water  is  kept  for  the  eagles  near  their  roosts. 


Feb.,  191 2.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  109 

during  the  year.  The  larger  feathers  are  used  on  masks,  standards, 
altars,  arrow  shafts,  and  for  many  other  purposes.  The  typical  Hopi 
sun  symbol  is  profusely  decorated  with  eagle  tail  feathers  which,  in 
this  case,  represent  the  rays  of  the  sun.  In  the  great  Flute  ceremony 
every  Flute  player  wears  such  a  sun  symbol  on  his  back  as  a  part  of  his 
ceremonial  costume.  He  also  wears  on  the  head  a  ring  of  corn-husks, 
into  which  are  thrust  eagle  breath  feathers,  while  other  participants 
in  this,  and  in  fact  in  most  Hopi  ceremonies,  have  a  smaller  eagle 
feather  fastened  to  their  scalp  lock  (see  Plate  XLVIII). 

In  all  ceremonies  of  any  importance  whistles  are  used  that  arc  often 
made  of  eagle  bones  and  the  chief  priest  uses  an  eagle1  wing  feather 
when  he  discharms  the  participants  in  the  ceremony  from  the  charm, 
peculiar  to  that  order  of  ceremony.  To  the  "tassels"  on  the  corners 
of  the  bridal  costume  eagle  nakwakwosis  are  tied  and  an  eagle  feather 
puhu  (road)  is  placed  to  the  west  of  the  grave  of  departed  Hopi 
to  show  them  the  road  to  the  skeleton  house.  Also  certain  prayer 
offerings,  which  are  placed  on  the  grave,  are  made  of  an  eagle  feather. 
Other  eagle  feather  roads,  with  a  longer  string,  are  placed  by  the 
Hopi  doctors  on  the  paths  that  lead  from  the  village  to  show  the  evil 
spirits  of  disease  the  road  on  which  they  are  requested  to  leave  their 
victims  whom  the  Medicine  man  has  discharmed,  and  the  village.  The 
natsi  or  society  emblem  of  the  Lagon  and  the  Oaqol  fraternity  contain 
two  eagle  tail  feathers  and  certain  standards  and  other  ceremonial 
objects  of  other  societies  are  decorated  with  the  same  feather.  The 
whips  which  the  Snake  priests  take  with  them  on  their  Snake  hunts  and 
use  in  the  Snake  dance  consist  of  a  handle  with  two  large  eagle  wing 
feathers  fastened  to  it,  and  to  the  point  of  which  is  fastened  a  small 
fuzzy  eagle  feather  which  is  painted  red.  A  number  of  similar,  small 
red  feathers  fastened  to  short  twisted  cotton  strings  form  the  prayer 
offerings,  which  the  Snake  hunter,  also  takes  with  him  and  which  he 
throws  with  some  sacred  meal  to  the  reptile  which  he  intends  to  capture 
for  the  ceremony. 

1  Usually,  however,  a  buzzard  feather  is  used  for  this  purpose. 


III.     THE  ORAIBI   NEW  YEAR  CEREMONY 

BY 

H.  R.  Voth. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  ceremony,  of  which  a  brief  description  is  given  in  the  following 
pages,  has  been  observed  by  the  author,  partly  on  September  n,  1897, 
partly  on  September  29,  1901,  and  could  even  then  not  be  thoroughly 
studied.1  He  had  hoped  to  have  an  opportunity  to  complete  his  obser- 
vations at  some  future  time,  and  for  that  reason  has  delayed  to  publish 
these  notes.  But  as  he  has  thus  far  not  had  that  opportunity,  it  was 
thought  best  to  place  on  record  these  brief  notes  with  the  hope,  that 
some  one  may  make  further  studies  of  this  ceremony  and  thus  be  enabled 
to  give  a  fuller  report  of  it. 

The  rite,  herewith  described,  is  usually  called  Y asangwlawu — mean- 
ing (to)  make,  create  (the)  year,  as  it  introduces  the  new  Hopi  ceremonial 
year,  an  event  which  would  seem  to  justify  a  more  pretentious  ceremony. 
It  is  possible,  however,  that  in  times  past  it  may  have  been  more  elabo- 
rate, like  other  ceremonies  that  have  dwindled  down  to  insignificant  per- 
formances since  the  Hopi  have  separated  into  several  opposing  factions 
who  have  carried  their  strife  with  great  bitterness  even  into  the  chambers 
of  their  sacred  shrines,  altars  and  ceremonies,  and  into  their  religious 
and  every  day  life  in  general. 

This  strife  between  the  factions  has,  since  the  time  this  ceremony 
was  studied,  gone  so  far,  that  several  portions  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  old  village  of  Oraibi  have  been  driven  out  and  have  built  two  new 
small  villages  a  few  miles  away,  so  that  the  people  are  now  not  only 
in  sentiment  but  also  locally  separated  into  three  factions,  which  will, 
of  course,  very  rapidly  cause  further  deterioration  of  the  complicated 
and  extremely  interesting  ceremonial  cults  of  the  Hopi  Indians.2 

1  As  far  as  I  know,  this  ceremony  has  never  been  witnessed  by  any  other  white  man. 

*  A  striking  illustration  of  this  fact  is  shown  on  PI.  No.  LIV  of  this  paper,  where  the  altar  is  shown 
as  it  appeared  at  the  performance  of  1901.  As  the  conservative  faction  of  the  society  positively  re- 
fused to  participate  in  the  ceremony  and  to  allow  the  part  of  the  altar  that  was  in  their  charge  to  be 
1.  a  few  members  of  the  liberal  faction  assembled  and  put  up  the  objects  that  were  in  their  keeping, 
and  observed  the  ceremony  as  well  as  they  were  able  to  do.  complaining  very  bitterly  about  the  attitude 
of  the  opposing  members  of  the  fraternity. 


NEW  YEAR  CEREMONY. 

(YASANGWLAWU.) 

This  ceremony  is  performed,  as  far  as  observed,  in  the  month  of 
September,  by  the  Kwakwantu  fraternity  in  the  Kwan  or  Agave  kiva 
(see  Plate  LI  I),  which  is  located  at  the  south  edge  of  the  old  village 
of  Oraibi.  In  the  performance  of  1897,  which  forms  the  basis  for  this 
paper,  the  leaders  were:  Naashashtiwa,  Talasswungwnima  Chokioma, 
Nasingyamtiwa,  Nakwaheptiwa  and  Shakyeshtiwa.  The  last  named 
had  gotten  water  from  the  springs  in  netted  gourd  vessels  and  Nak- 
waheptiwa had  also  gotten  the  sand  for  the  altar  sand-ridge  when  I 
came  in. 

Naashashtiwa  soon  commenced  to  make  prayer  offerings.  He  made 
the  following  kinds: 

One  single  black  baho,  with  a  turkey  feather  and  chat  nakwakwosi. 

Two  double  black  bahos,  with  the  same  kind  of  feathers. 

Four  eagle  feather  nakwakwosis. 

Two  eagle  feather  puhus  (roads). 

Talasswungwnima  made  just  the  same  only  his  bahos  had  duck, 
instead  of  chat  feathers. 

Chokioma  made  six  nakwakwosis  and  two  puhus,  all  of  eagle 
feathers. 

All  the  bahos  and  nakwakwosis  were  laid  on  a  tray. 

Naashashtiwa  placed  one  of  his  bahos  and  nakwakwosis  with  Tal- 
asswungwnima's,  the  latter  one  of  his  with  Naashashtiwa 's. 

The  latter  then  made  a  long  puhu.  The  other  men  now  also  made 
prayer  offerings  as  follows: 

Nakwaheptiwa  four  nakwakwosis  and  two  puhus. 

Shakyeshtiwa,  eight  of  the  same  kind. 

Nasinyamtiwa  the  same. 

The  two  puhus,  I  was  told,  were  one  for  the  sun,  one  for  the  moon. 
All  then  smoked  over  their  prayer  offerings,  whereupon  they  were 
)laced  on  a  tray.  Hereupon  Naashashtiwa  spurted  honey  on  the 
tray  and  also  out  of  the  hatch-way. 

This  done,  Naashashtiwa  (see  Plate  LI II)  repainted  a  stick,  about 
twenty-eight  inches  long,  and  four  crooks.  To  the  stick  he  tied  six  old 
eagle  feathers  at  one  end,  and  below  that,  at  four  different  places,  a 
piece  of  corn-husk  and  a  small  feather  to  the  crooks.     One  of  the  men 

"5 


n6    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.'  XI. 

was  sent  after  clay,  of  which  he  made  five  cone-shaped  stands  or  pedestals 
about  3x4  inches  large.  Naashashtiwa  then  made  a  semi-circular 
sand-ridge,  and  put  thirty-two  black  eagle  wing  feathers  into  the  ridge 
and  then  corn -meal  and  black  lines  on  it.  He  then  painted  two  black 
lines  (crossing  each  other)  on  the  base  of  his  tiponi  and  of  each  clay 
stand.  Talasswungwnima  took  out  his  tiponi,  old  nakwakwosis,  etc. 
from  their  old  wrappings  and  placed  them  on  the  floor,  to  be  used  on  the 
altar.  Naashashtiwa  then  put  the  long,  black  stick,  described  before 
into  one  of  the  stands  and  placed  it  in  the  centre  before  the  sand-ridge 
He  then  placed  his  tiponi  to  the  west  end  of  the  ridge  each  time,  first 
sprinkling  meal  first  from  six  directions  towards  the  centre,  but  instead 
of  from  the  south-west  {yf)  (for  below) ,  as  is  done  everywhere  else,  he 
sprinkled  from  the  north-west  (^f-).  This  deviation  from  the  univer- 
sal rule  I  have  observed  several  times  in  the  ceremonies  of  this  fraternity 
in  the  Kwan  kiva,  and  here  only.  A  further  variation  consists  in  the 
fact  that  tiponis  of  the  Kwakwantu  have  tied  to  them  what  seems  to  be 
a  small  tiponi.  The  two  tiponis,  used  in  this  ceremony,  were  of  that 
kind  (see  Plate  LI). 

Talasswungwnima  now  put  up  his  tiponi  at  the  east  end  of  the 
ridge,  and  then  placed  the  medicine  bowl  before  the  altar,  and  poured 
water  into  it  from  three  gourd  vessels,  also  observing  the  directions 
(as  just  explained)  in  the  waving  of  the  tiponi,  bowl,  sprinkling  meal, 
pouring  water,  etc.  Wherever  the  six  directions  are  observed  in  this 
kiva,  in  whatever  performance,  north-west  takes  the  place  of  south-west. 
Naashashtiwa  then  strew  a  small  quantity  of  either  meal  or  corn-pollen 
into  the  medicine  bowl  from  the  six  directions  and  then  sprinkled  a 
meal  line  in  a  south-east  direction  from  the  altar  and  put  the  four  gourd 
vessels  and  four  crooks  on  the  line  (see  Plate  LI).  He  then  took  a 
seat  west,  Talasswungwnima  south-west  of  the  altar;  Nakwaheptiwa, 
who  had  in  the  meanwhile  lighted  a  pipe,  handed  it  to  Talaswungwnima, 
who  smoked,  then  handed  the  pipe  to  Naashashtiwa,  who  also  smoked. 

I  now  went  out  about  ten  minutes,  and  when  I  returned  I  found  the 
corn-ears  lying  around  the  medicine  bowl,  and  the  two  old  men  were 
singing,  Naashashtiwa  rattling  a  mosilili  (cone  shell  rattle),  and  Talass- 
wungwnima putting  a  little  corn-pollen  on  each  corn-ear  at  short  inter- 
vals. The  corn-ears  were  placed  around  the  bowl  not  before,  but  during 
this  song.  Whether  this  was  the  second  song,  the  first  having  been 
chanted  while  I  was  not  there,  I  do  not  know. 

Other  song:  Talasswungwnima  placed  small  pieces  of  stone  or  shell 
near  the  corn-ears,  first  one  north,  then  west,  south,  east,  north-east 
and  north-west. 

Other  song:     Talasswungwnima  put  an  old  makwanpi  (aspergill) 


PL.    LI.     ALTAR  OF  THE   NEW  YEAR  CEREMONY. 

In  the  sand-ridges  are  thirty-two  eagle  wing  feathers.  On  each  side  stands  a 
tiponi  (palladium  of  chief  priests),  which  differ  from  all  other  Hopi  tiponies  in  having 
what  resembles  a  small  tiponi  attached  to  them.  They  are  used  also  in  other 
ceremonies  in  this  kiva.  In  the  centre  stands  a  standard  and  in  front  of  it  the 
medicine  bowl  with  the  ears  of  corn  and  their  "husbands,"  the  old  aspergills.  In 
front  of  this  are  placed,  in  a  slanting  line,  four  netted  gourd  vessels  and  four  crooks  > 
(symbols  of  life) .  By  the  side  of  these  objects  are  a  cloud-blower,  a  boy  with  tobacco, 
some  pipes,  bahos  and  a  tray  with  meal,  shell  rattles  and  nakwakwosis. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY.  PL.  LI. 


Drawing  by  C.  L.  Dalrymple. 


PL.   Lll. 

A.  The  Kwan  kiva  in  which  the  New  Year  ceremony  is  performed. 

B.  The  same,  showing  the  natsi  or  standard.    To  the  short  sticks  are  tied  the 
following  kinds  of  feathers: 


North: 

West: 

South: 

East: 

North-east: 

South-west: 


Oriole, 

Bluebird, 

Parrot, 

Magpie, 

Sparrow, 

Warbler. 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  117 

and  old  nakwakwosi  near  each  corn-ear  at  short  intervals.  These 
aspergills  are  called  the  husbands  of  the  corn-ears.1 

Other  song:  The  rattles  were  moved  backward  and  forward.  Tal- 
asswungwnima threw  a  pinch  of  corn-meal  along  the  north  corn-ear  into 
the  medicine  bowl,  took  up  the  corn-ear  and  its  husband  and  wiped  with 
the  latter  the  corn-pollen  from  the  ear  into  the  medicine  bowl  and  re- 
placed both.  This  he  did  with  all  six.  Then  he  threw  the  six  stones 
(or  pieces  of  shell)  one  after  the  other  into  the  bowl,  and  then  at  another 
round  the  old  nakwakwosis.  There  not  being  any  intervals  between 
these  different  acts  in  the  singing,  I  could  not  conclusively  determine 
whether  all  this  was  done  during  one  song  or  several;  especially  since 
the  apparent  deficient  knowledge  of  the  (mostly  archaic)  songs  on  the 
part  of  the  priest  caused  considerable  confusion.  But  from  analogy 
I  believe  that  these  different  rites  were  performed,  or  were  supposed 
to  be  performed  during  different  songs. 

Nakwaheptiwa  and  Nasingyamtiwa  were  sitting  near  the  fireplace 
during  this  singing. 

Other  song:  Talasswungwnima  took  up  all  six  ears  of  corn,  put 
them,  points  downward,  into  the  medicine  bowl,  and  held  them  in  that 
manner;  Nakwaheptiwa  took  the  east  and  west  old  aspergill,  and  held 
the  first  with  the  right  hand  against  the  east,  the  other  with  the  left 
hand  against  the  west  side  of  the  medicine  bowl.2  Naashashtiwa  here- 
upon whistled  with  a  bone  whistle  six  times.  As  he  was  the  only  one 
who  seemed  to  know  the  songs  fairly  well,  the  singing  stopped  while 
he  blew  the  whistle.     The  corn-ears  were  then  replaced. 

Other  song:  Talasswungwnima  sprinkled  six  times.  Quite  a  long 
pause  occurred  because  Naashashtiwa  had  also  forgotten  part  of  the 
song.  After  singing  for  a  little  while  longer  they  stopped ;  Naashashtiwa 
and  Talasswungwnima  sprinkled  meal  on  the  altar.  Nakwaheptiwa 
lighted  a  pipe  and  both  smoked,  which  ended  the  ceremony  in  the 
forenoon. 

In  the  afternoon  nothing  was  done  except  talking,  smoking,  etc. 
More  men  came  into  the  kiva,  so  that  by  evening  about  a  dozen  men 
were  present.  It  seems  strange,  that  so  few  men  took  part  in  this 
ceremony.  Many  members  of  the  fraternity,  who  were  supposed  to  be 
there,  were  kept  away  by  the  existing  animosity  between  the  two  con- 
tending factions  in  the  village,  about  which  those  present  complained 
bitterly.  Others  were  deterred  by  work  in  their  corn-fields;  some  of 
them  came  into  the  kiva  in  the  evening  for  the  night  ceremony. 

At  about  one  o'clock  in  the  night  (September  1 2,  a.  m.)  Naashashtiwa 

1  I  could  not  determine  whether  what  was  sung  until  now  was  all  one  or  several  songs.  I  believe 
the  first  to  be  the  case. 

*  Exactly  the  same  performance  occurs  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  Piute  fraternity. 


n8    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XI. 

swept  up  the  line  of  meal  on  which  the  four  crooks  and  the  four  gourd 
vessels  were  standing.  Then  he  smoked  and  hereupon  sprinkled  some 
meal  into  the  medicine  bowl,  made  a  new  meal  line  and  placed  the  four 
crooks  and  four  gourd  vessels  on  the  line  again,  as  before.  He  and 
Talasswungwnima  then  sat  down  west  and  south-west  of  the  altar 
again,  as  in  the  forenoon.  Old  Chokioma  now  lighted  a  pipe,  handed 
it  to  Talasswungwnima  and  the  two  priests  smoked  again ;  Lomalehtiwa 
soon  joined  them.  A  number  of  new  men  had  come  in  during  the  even- 
ing so  that  there  were  about  a  dozen  men  present  at  that  time. 

At  about  1:35  a.  m.  Naashashtiwa  offered  a  short  prayer,  and  then 
the  singing  commenced  again,  several  of  the  newcomers  joining  in. 
Lomalehtiwa  also  rattled  a  mosilili.  Nakwaheptiwa  smoked  and  an- 
other man,  who  acted  as  Fire  chief,  soon  joined  him.  At  1 :45  a.  m.  there 
was  a  pause  in  the  singing;  all  rubbed  their  bodies  with  their  hands  and 
blew  into  his  hands  and  then  into  the  air.  But  the  singing  was  soon 
resumed.  Naashashtiwa,  during  this  song,  took  his  tiponi,  Talasswungw- 
nima the  medicine  bowl;  the  young  man,  who  made  the  clay  stands, 
took  Talasswungwnima 's  tiponi,  six  of  the  others  each  took  an  ear  of 
corn  and  its  husband  and  each  one  beat  time  with  the  object  he  held  in 
his  hand.  The  song  lasted  about  eight  minutes.  The  objects  were 
then  all  replaced. 

Other  song:  Naashashtiwa  handed  his  mosilili  to  one  of  the  other 
men,  I  think,  because  his  arm  was  tired. 

Other  song:  At  about  2:35  Naashashtiwa  lighted  the  cloud  blower 
pipe,  spurted  honey  over  it  and  then  blew  smoke  over  the  altar;  the 
smoke  is  supposed  to  represent  clouds. 

Other  song:  Several  fell  asleep;  two  of  the  mosililis  stopped.  Final- 
ly old  Naashashtiwa  sang  and  rattled  alone,  and  he  seemed  to  be  very 
tired  and  sleepy  too.  Here  and  there  he  was  assisted  a  little  by  Tal- 
asswungwnima, who  seemed  to  be  unacquainted  with  the  songs. 

It  was  now  3:25  a.  m.;  I  could  not  determine  just  how  many  songs 
were  sung,  as  the  intervals,  if  any,  were  very  brief.  Most  of  the  men 
were  sleeping  by  this  time. 

Another  song  was  intoned  which  dragged  along  until  about  3:45. 
This  was  followed  by  several  others,  mostly  sung  by  poor  old  Naashash- 
tiwa alone,  here  and  there  one  of  the  men  assisting  him  a  little  either  in 
singing  or  rattling. 

Ag  5:00  a.  m.  the  singing  stopped,  the  priests  smoked,  and  I  think 
Naashashtiwa  uttered  a  short  prayer. 

All  were  then  silently  sitting  and  waiting  awhile,  most  of  them  being 
awake  by  this  time.  At  5  =30  a.  m.  the  two  priests  took  their  tiponis,  sat 
down  north  of  the  fireplace,  and  Naashashtiwa,  waving  his  one  slowly 


PL.   Llll. 

Naashashtiwa,  chief  priest  of  the  Kwan  society. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  PL.  Llll. 


PL.    LIV.      PRIESTS  AND  A  PARTIAL  NEW  YEAR  ALTAR. 

The  picture  k  an  illustration  of  the  havoc  which  the  contentions  among  the 
d.fferent  factions  m  Oraibi  works  even  in  their  ceremonies.  The  altar  contains 
only  one  tiponi  instead  of  two,  only  two  gourd  vessels  instead  of  four,  no  crooks 
and  shows  a  disturbed  condition  generally. 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  iiq 

up  and  down,  sang  slowly  for  awhile,  whereupon  they  replaced  them, 
and  the  men  then  smoked  a  while. 

This  is  as  far  as  I  was  able  to  study  this  ceremony,  but  believe  that 
no  further  performances  took  place.  The  new  ceremonial  year,  with 
its  cycle  of  secret  and  public  ceremonies  and  dances,  had  been  ushered 
in.  A  few  weeks  later  the  Wuwuchim  ceremony,  probably  the  most 
important  in  the  entire  ceremonial  calender,  is  celebrated.  The  youths 
and  young  men  of  the  village  are  then  initiated  into  the  Wuwuchim 
(men's)  Agave,  Horn  and  Singer  fraternities,  and  right  after  it  appears 
the  first  Katcina — the  Soyal, — announcing,  as  it  were,  the  approaching 
Katcina  season.  Still  a  few  weeks  later  on  the  occasion  of  the  great 
Soyal  celebration,  the  Qooqoqlom  Katcinas  make  the  round  of  the  vil- 
lages, "opening"  the  kivas  for  the  coming  Katcinas,  whereupon  a  series 
of  Katcina  performances  of  great  variety  of  names,  costumes  and  pur- 
pose appear  at  shorter  and  longer  intervals  until  the  Katcina  season 
closes  with  the  Niman,  or  Farewell  Katcina  ceremony  in  July.1  Mean- 
time certain  secret  ceremonies  by  the  different  orders  take  place  in  the 
different  kivas,  by  the  Flute,  Snake,  Marau,  OaqSl  and  other  societies, 
especially  during  December,  January  and  February,  some  lasting  one 
day  others  nine  days.  With  the  exception  of  the  Powamu  ceremony, 
which  is  very  closely  related  to  the  Katcina  cult  and  during  which  the 
Katcina  imitations  take  place,  these  secret  winter  kiva  performances 
are  less  complicated  and  apparently  of  less  importance  than  those  per- 
formed by  these  societies  between  the  Niman  (Farewell)  and  the  next 
New  Year  ceremony. 

1  See  the  Author's  paper  on  "The  Oraibi  Niman  Ceremony,"  in  preparation  by  The  Field  Museum. 


IV.     TAWA   BAHOLAWU   OF   THE   ORAIBI    FLUTE 

SOCIETIES 

BY 

H.  R.  Voth. 


PREFACE. 

The  sun  plays  a  very  conspicuous  part  in  the  Hopi  religion.  There 
is,  as  far  as  I  know,  no  secret  or  altar  ceremony  where  some  prayer 
offerings  for  the  sun  are  not  prepared  and  deposited.  But  in  no  other 
society's  ceremonial  does  the  sun  cult  occupy  such  a  large  part  as  in 
that  of  the  two  Flute  orders,  the  Blue  and  the  Drab.  Not  only  are 
many  prayer  offerings  made  for  the  sun,  sun  symbols  used,  etc.,  in  the 
regular  Flute  ceremonies  (see  Plate  XLVIII),  but  these  two  societies 
each  celebrate  a  one  day  ceremony  in  winter  and  one  in  summer  for  the 
special  purpose  of  making  prayer  offerings  for  the  sun.  They  call 
these  observances  Tawa  Baholawu,  (Sun  Prayer  Offering  making).  This 
paper  gives  brief  descriptions  of  these  sun  ceremonies.  None  of  them 
is  entirely  complete,  but  as  a  good  deal  of  similarity  exists  between  them 
they  will  give  a  fairly  good  idea  of  the  general  nature  of  this  phase  of 
the  Hopi  sun  cult,  until  more  complete  and  detailed  data  can  be  ob- 
tained. As  the  dissensions  and  quarrels  among  the  Oraibi  have  already 
very  materially  affected  the  completeness  of  the  different  ceremonies 
in  that  village,  it  was  thought  best  to  publish  the  data  which  we  have, 
though  they  may  be  more  or  less  fragmentary. 

All  the  ceremonies  of  the  Drab  Flute  society  are  more  elaborate  than 
those  of  the  Blue  Flute  order.  This  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
number  of  Blue  Flute  members  belonging  to  the  liberal  faction,  and  who 
do  not  participate  in  their  ceremonies,  is  smaller  than  that  of  the  Drab 
Flute  members  who  belong  to  the  conservative  faction  and  hence  refuse 
to  take  part  in  any  ceremony  of  their — the  Drab  Flute — society.  The 
latter  has  usually  a  greater  number  of  singers  and  players,  and  prepares 
more  prayer  offerings  than  the  Blue  Flutes.  The  only  instance  where  I 
have  ever  seen  these  two  societies  cooperate  is  the  nine  day  summer 
ceremony.  Here  the  two  great  observances  interlink  repeatedly,  which 
makes  a  cooperation  imjjerative,  as  without  it  the  great  mutual  cere- 
mony would  be  incomplete  and  hence  in  the  mind  of  the  Hopi  fail  to 
accomplish  its  purposes. 


THE  WINTER  CEREMONY  OF  THE  DRAB  FLUTE 

SOCIETY. 

January  20,  1898. 

This  ceremony  took  place  in  the  Hawiowi  Kiwa  (from  ha  wni,  descend, 
slope),  in  which  all  the  winter  ceremonies  of  the  Masi-Lalcntu  (Drab 
Flute  Society)  take  place.     The  following  members  were  present: 


I. 

Lomahungwa1 

Chief  priest. 

2. 

Namitnyaoma 

3- 

Tangakyeshtiwa 

4. 

Chokioma 

5- 

Kwavaho 

■  Singers. 

6. 

Shakwuna 

7- 

Qomahoiniwa 

8. 

Talasyamtiwa 

9- 

Towahoyniwa 

10. 

Sivilctstiwa 

11. 

Banumtiwa 

■  Flute  players 

12. 

Shakyamtiwa 

13- 

Masaveima 

14. 

Shakwaima 

The  men  began  to  come  into  the  kiva  at  about  10  a.  m.  Lomahung- 
wa was,  I  believe,  the  first,  then  Talasyamtiwa,  Towahoyniwa,  Masa- 
veima, etc.  Every  one  smoked  first  before  he  commenced  to  make 
prayer  offerings.  At  first  only  an  old  short  single  baho  stick  was  in 
the  hatch-way  matting,  serving  as  a  natsi  or  society  emblem.  The 
two  long  baho  sticks  for  the  regular  natsi  were  lying  on  the  floor. 

While  more  men  came  in,  those  in  the  kiva  were  smoking,  and  Masa- 
veima related  old  hunting  yarns,  while  Lomahungwa  was  silently  work- 
ing at  four  double  green  bahos  about  four  inches  long  and  four  single 
black  bahos  about  five  inches  long.  Before  he  finished  them  he  put  a 
large  turkey  feather,  kufiya  and  maovi,2  and  the  usual  corn-husk  packet 
with  meal  and  honey  to  the  two  baho  sticks  that  had  been  lying  on  the 
floor  and  that  were  about  twelve  inches  long,  and  tied  this  natsi  to  the 
right  pole  of  the  ladder.     After  much  smoking  and  talking  all  went  to 

1  The  accents  on  the  names  will  be  given  in  this  list  only. 
*  Artemisia  f  rigida  and  Gutierrezia  Euthamiae  Ton-  &  Gray. 

125 


126    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XI. 

making  nakwakwosis  of  different  kinds  and  numbers,  varying  with  the 
different  men.  Shakwuna  and  Masaveima  each  made  six  nakwakwosis 
and  two  puhtavis;  Tangakyeshtiwa,  six  nakwakwosis  and  four  piihtavis; 
Qomaho,  six  puhtavis;  Namitnyaoma,  nine  nakwakwosis  and  two 
puhtavis;  Siviletstiwa,  a  good  many  of  both,  etc.  Each  one,  when 
done,  smoked  and  spurted  honey  over  his  bahos  or  nakwakwosis. 
Lomahungwa  also  did  the  same  with  his  bahos  and  nakwakwosis,  and 
then  also  walked  up  the  ladder  and  spurted  honey  up  the  ladder  and 
through  the  hatch -way. 

All  bahos  and  nakwakwosis  were  then  placed  on  a  tray  on  the  north, 
west,  south  and  east  sides;  on  the  north-east  (above)  and  south-west 
(below)  only  nakwakwosis. 

Food  was  then  brought  to  the  kiva  by  women,  and  all  partook  of  the 
noon-day  meal  in  the  kiva. 

After  dinner  Qomaho  fixed  the  six  direction  altar  (see  Plate  LV), 
sprinkling  first  dry,  fine  sand  on  the  floor.  He  then  sprinkled  meal 
from  six  directions,  placing  the  medicine  bowl  on  the  centre  of  these 
lines.  The  six  corn-ears  and  six  old  aspergills  he  placed  around  the 
bowl  in  the  usual  ceremonial  order.  First,  I  think,  he  poured  the  water 
into  the  medicine  bowl.  Then  he  put  a  green  object,  perhaps  about  two 
and  one-half  by  two  inches  in  size,  into  the  bowl.  This  piece  of  sherd 
or  stone  had  evidently  been  broken  from  a  larger  piece  and  seemed  to 
be  very  old.  It  was  of  a  light  green  color,  opaque,  but  had  highly  pol- 
ished places,  evidently  from  long  usage.  On  one  side  it  was  smooth, 
on  the  other  it  had  raised  decorations  as  if  it  had  been  either  cast  in  a 
mould  or  carved.  It  resembled  stone  objects  found  in  the  ruins  of 
Mexico.  Qomaho  furthermore  placed  six  pieces  of  shell  and  stone  and 
six  old  nakwakwosis  of  six  different  feathers  near  the  six  corn-ears. 
Reaching  with  a  small  stick  into  nine  different  small  buckskin  bags,  he 
put  what  little  powder  adhered  to  the  stick  into  the  medicine  bowl. 
He  then  rubbed  onto  each  corn-ear  a  little  paste  which  was  said  to  have 
been  made  of  various  kinds  of  seeds,  and  lastly  he  put  a  little  honey  into 
the  bowl.  Towahoyniwa  then  brought  in  a  small  ball  of  snow  (about 
three  inches  in  diameter),  into  which  he  thrust  four  oriole  feathers. 
He  said  that  he  did  this  "so  that  the  snow  should  melt  and  make  the 
fields  wet." 

Lomahungwa  had  in  the  meanwhile  filled  the  big  cloud  pipe,  or 
cloud  blower,  and  put  up  the  tiponi.  The  Flute  players  were  now 
getting  ready  their  flutes.  Qamoho  put  a  little  talasi  (corn-pollen)  on 
a  corn-husk  to  be  used  in  the  altar  ceremony.  All  now  took  their 
places  and  waited.  (See  diagram,  Plate  LV).  Lomahungwa  lighted 
the  cloud  pipe  and  blew  smoke  over  the  altar.     Singing  then  began. 


PL.    LV.     DIAGRAM  OF  DRAB  FLUTE  BAHOLAWU. 

I.     Position  of  the  chief  priest  Lomahungwa. 

2-7.  Position  of  the  other  leaders  that  participated  in  the  singing,  sprinkling, 
etc. 

8-14.     Position  of  the  Flute  players. 

15.  Tiponi  (palladium  or  badge  of  office  of  the  chief  priest). 

16.  Medicine  bowl  surrounded  by  six  ears  of  corn,  six  old  makwaupis,  called 
the  "husbands"  of  the  corn-ears,  six  small  nakwakwosis,  and  six  small  stones  of 
various  colors. 

17.  Fireplace. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  PL.  LV. 


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// 


Drawing  by  C.  L.  Dalrymple. 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  127 

First  song:  Old  Chokioma  stood  up,  held  a  long  buzzard  wing  feather 
in  each  hand,  sprinkled  a  little  meal  on  each,  beat  time  with  them, 
circled  them  over  the  medicine  bowl,  and  brushed  the  meal  from  each 
with  the  other.     I  think  he  did  this  six  times,  and  then  sat  down. 

Other  song:  Old  Chokioma  made  the  four  lines  on  the  sides  of  the 
kiva  and  between  the  north-east  and  east  and  the  south-west  and  west 
corn-ears.     I  did  not  notice  whether  he  threw  any  meal  to  the  ceiling. 

I  should  have  remarked  that  the  priests  number  one,  two  and  three 
were  beating  time  with  mosililis  (cone  shell  rattles);  number  four  with 
one  of  the  long  eagle  feathers;  numbers  five  and  six  also  with  such  feath- 
ers, and  number  seven,  during  the  first  part  of  the  ceremony  with  noth- 
ing, and  during  the  last  with  the  aspergill    (see  Plate  LV.) 

Other  song:  Qomaho  picked  up  the  north  aspergill  sprinkled  a  little 
cornmeal  and  corn-pollen  along  it  and  into  the  bowl,  then  slid  the  piece 
of  shell  along  the  aspergill  and  threw  the  shell  in  and  replaced  the 
aspergill.     He  repeated  this  with  the  remaining  five. 

Other  song:  Qomaho  did  the  same  performance  in  the  same  way, 
only  now  threw  the  old  nakwakwosis,  one  after  the  other,  into  the 
bowl  and  whistled  with  a  bone  whistle  each  time. 

A  short  pause  occurred  here  in  the  singing,  during  which  Qomaho 
whistled  several  times. 

Other  song:  (During  which  all  the  players  sat  around  the  fireplace 
and  smoked.)  Qomaho  picked  up  each  corn-ear  and  washed  off  the 
"paste"  into  the  bowl,  and  sprinkled  each  time  with  his  aspergill. 
He  then,  between  this  and  the  next  song,  put  all  the  corn-ears  into  the 
medicine  bowl,  points  downward.  Chokioma  picked  up  the  old  asper- 
gills  from  the  south  and  west  sides  of  the  bowl,  held  them  in  his  hand, 
also  holding  the  medicine  bowl  with  each  hand,  and  then 

Another  song  was  intoned.  All  the  players  fluted  again.  The 
corn-ears  were  then  replaced  in  their  regular  order. 

Other  song:  Qomaho  from  now  on  beat  time  with  his  aspergill  and 
occasionally  sprinkled  on  the  baho  tray  and  then  over  the  altar.  Loma- 
hungwa  sprinkled  corn-meal  along  the  six  corn-ears  into  the  medicine 
bowl.     Sprinkling  by  Qomaho. 

Other  song:    Sprinkling  by  Qomaho. 

Other  song:    Sprinkling  by  Qomaho. 

I  here  left,  but  have  reason  to  believe  that  very  little  of  importance 
took  place  after  this. 

None  of  the  men  wore  any  part  of  a  ceremonial  costume  in  this 
entire  performance.  Some  of  the  players  kept  their  shirts  on,  but  all 
wore  the  hair  loose,  which  is  always  the  case  in  all  Hopi  ceremonies. 


128    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XI. 

THE  WINTER  CEREMONY  OF  THE  BLUE  FLUTE 

SOCIETY. 

January  20,  1898. 

This  ceremony  took  place  on  January  20th,  1898,  in  the  Sakwalanve 
(Blue  Flute)  kiva,  where  all  the  -winter  ceremonies  of  this  fraternity 
take  place.     Lomahungyoma  was  the  leader  of  the  ceremony. 

Besides  the  ceremony  Anga-Katcina  masks,  moccasins,  etc.,  were 
painted  and  costumes  prepared  in  the  kiva  for  a  Katcina  dance  that 
evening. 

The  men  that  came  in  always  first  smoked  awhile  near  the  fireplace. 
Lomahungyoma,  who  alone  wore  a  ceremonial  kilt,  made  five  double 
green  bahos.  All  the  men  who  took  part  in  the  ceremony  made  a  num- 
ber of  nakwakwosis  which  were  placed  on  a  tray  with  the  bahos.  When 
all  had  finished  their  nakwakwosis  the  tray  was  placed  on  the  floor  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  kiva,  and  eleven  men  gathered  around  it  and 
sang,  but  I  could  not  follow  this  ceremony  as  I  wanted  to  get  the  Drab 
Flute  Ceremony  complete.  When  I  came  in  again  they  were  smoking, 
and  each  one  took  some  honey  which  he  spurted  on  the  tray  after  he 
had  smoked.  The  bahos  and  nakwakwosis  were  then  carried  out  and 
deposited  outside  the  village.  As  I  followed  the  first  man  (to  the  north) , 
I  could  not  ascertain  how  many  men  went,  but  I  think  five.  The  man 
whom  I  accompanied  put  down  the  baho  first,  then  the  nakwakwosis 
(a  good  many)  in  front  of  it,  and  in  front  of  the  nakwakwosis  a  puhtavi 
and  along  that  and  towards  the  sun  he  sprinkled  some  sacred  meal. 

The  noonday  meal  was  then  partaken  of,  after  which  a  singing 
ceremony  took  place  in  the  north-east  corner  of  the  kiva,  four  of  the 
men  sitting  on  the  floor  along  the  north  and  four  along  the  east  ban- 
quette. Before  them  stood  a  tray  with  meal  and  I  believe  some  more 
prayer  offerings,  and  also  a  long  eagle  wing  feather. 

The  eight  men  had  each  a  mossilili  (cone  shell  rattle)  except  one  who 
had  a  long  buzzard  feather.  On  the  west  banquette  stood  seven  Flute 
players,  three  of  whom  were  boys.  A  number  of  songs  were  sung,  ac- 
companied by  playing.  Lomahungyoma  whistled  at  short  intervals 
with  a  short  bone  whistle.  I  do  not  think  that  anyone  had  a  kilt  or 
any  other  ceremonial  costume  on  except  Lomahungyoma.  I  could  not 
see  the  termination  of  the  ceremony,  but  from  analogy  I  am  sure,  that 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  singing  and  playing  smoking  took  place.  It  is 
also  my  opinion,  that  some  of  the  prayer  offerings,  made  in  this  cere- 
mony, were  taken  to  some  more  distantly  located  sun  shrines,  especially 
to  those  on  a  mesa  a  few  miles  east  of  Oraibi. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,   PL.   LVI. 


,  % 


'Z, 

Drawing  by  C.  L.  Dalrymple. 


Pl.  LVI.    Various  Prayer  Offerings. 

i  .    White  ear  of  corn  with  yellow  dots. 

2.  White  ear  of  corn  with  green  dots. 

3.  White  ear  of  corn  with  black  dots. 

4.  White  ear  of  corn  with  white  dots. 

5.  Wooden  hoe  with  green  corn-ear  painted  on  it;  the  hoe  being  painted  white. 

6.  Meal  cake. 

7.  Wooden  cylinder-sliaped  stick  with  a  duck  feather  nakwakwosi  attached  to 
it.     Painted  black,  the  ends  green. 

8.  Ring  made  of  cat-tail  leaves  with  a  duck  feather  nakwakwosi  attached  to  it. 
Painted  black. 

9  and  10.    Boards  called  "fields."    The  dark  part,  painted  green,  the  light  part 
yellow. 

1 1 .  The  same,  the  light  part  painted  green,  the  dark  part  red. 

12.  The  same,  painted  white  with  black  bird  tracks. 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  129 

THE  SUMMER  CEREMONY  OF  THE  DRAB  FLUTE 

SOCIETY. 

June  13,  1901. 

Every  summer,  as  far  as  observed,  in  the  month  of  June,  the  Drab 
Flute  Society  observes  a  one  day  ceremony  for  the  special  purjx>se  of 
making  and  depositing  prayer  offerings  for  the  sun.  For  this  purpose 
they  assemble  in  the  ancestral  houses  of  their  respective  societies  where 
they  also  celebrate  about  two  months  later  the  regular  Flute  ceremony, 
which  lasts  nine  days. 

The  participants  on  this  occasion  were:  Lomahungwa,  chief  priest, 
Shdkhungyoma,  Tuwahoyniwa,  Masaveima,  Sivinomtiwa,  Qomaho, 
Siviletstiwa,  Talasnomtiwa,  and  Nakwahoyoma,  who  are  some  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  Drab  Flute  Society.  All,  except  Lomahungwa,  wore 
their  usual  clothes,  but  were  barefooted  and  had  their  hair  untied. 
Lomahungwa1  wore  nothing  except  a  small  breech  cloth. 

The  following  account  states,  as  nearly  as  possible,  who  of  the  men, 
present,  prepared  the  different  objects,  though  sometimes  they  assisted 
one  another,  the  one  doing  one  part,  another  some  other  part  of  the 
work. 

Lomahungwa  prepared  the  following  objects: 

1.  Four  round  prayer  sticks  of  cottonwood  root,  six  inches  long,  one 
and  one  quarter  inches  thick,  which  were  said  to  represent  corn-stalks 
(see  Plate  LVI). 

2.  One  wonawika  of  cottonwood  root,  four  inches  long  and  about 
one  and  a  half  inches  wide,  representing  an  old  weeding  implement. 
This  had  an  old  eagle  breath  feather  and  a  butterfly  wing  from  the  medi- 
cine bowl  attached  to  it  (see  Plate  LVI). 

3.  Two  prayer  sticks,  about  six  inches  long,  one  with  a  facet  repre- 
senting a  female  prayer  stick.     Both  had  a  nodule  in  the  middle. 

4.  Five  single  black  bahos  (chochokpi)  six  inches  long. 

5.  Four  short  and  one  long  puhus  (roads),  which  he  moistened  with 
honey  and  rolled  in  corn-pollen.    Also  three  plain  short  roads. 

6.  Six  double  green  bahos  with  black  tips  four  and  a  half  inches  long. 
All  bahos  had  duck  feather  nakwakwosis  tied  to  them.  He  smoked 
over  all  and  spurted  honey  over  them.  He  also  prepared  the  paint  for 
painting  the  bahos  except  the  first  named,  for  which  Masaveima  pre- 
pared it.  He  put  into  a  double  mortar  green  and  yellow,  and  into 
another  mortar  some  black  paint,  some  honey,  a  pinch  of  some  ngahu 
(medicine),  also  some  water  and  a  butterfly  wing;  the  latter  he  tied 

1  The  accents  on  these  proper  names  will  be  given  in  this  paragraph  only. 


PL.    LVII.     ARTIFICIAL  CORN-STALKS. 

i .  Body  yellow,  dots  black,  root  white. 

2.  Body  green,  dots  black,  root  white. 

3.  Body  red,  dots  white,  root  white. 

4.  Body  white,  dots  red,  root  white. 

The  objects  are  all  dressed  with  a  turkey  feather,  a  sprig  of  Artemisia  frigida,  one 
of  Gutierrezia  Euthamiae  Torr.  and  Gray,  a  corn-husk  packet,  containing  meal  and 
a  pinch  of  honey,  and  a  duck  feather  nakwakwosi,  as  shown  on  No.  4. 


t 


»* 


E 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Vote.  131 

Sivinomtiwa  made  two  puhus  of  eagle  and  warbler  feathers  for  the 
sun  and  Spider  Woman,  and  also  four  nakwakwosis  of  eagle  feathers 
only,  for  the  four  cardinal  points  and  four  puhus  of  eagle  feathers  only 
for  the  eagles.     These  last  he  handed  to  Shakhungyoma. 

Xakwahoyoma.  who  had  come  in  towards  noon,  prepared  two  Kal- 
ehtaka  or  warrior  bahos,  consisting  of  a  single  stick  about  five  inches 
long  to  which  was  fastened  one  of  the  small  wing  feathers  of  a  large 
hawk  and  a  nakwakwosi,  I  think  of  the  same  bird.  On  these  bahos, 
which  were  painted  red,  he  rubbed  some  specular  iron.  Of  these  two 
ingredients  he  also  rubbed  some  on  his  face.  Later  he  also  prepared 
the  same  puhus  and  nakwakwosis  as  Tuwahoyniwa  (see  above). 

Shokhungyoma  made  one  puhu  each  for  the  sun,  moon,  eagles  and 
Spider  Woman,  and  four  nakwakwosis  for  the  four  world  quarters. 

Talasnomtiwa  made  three  puhus  of  eagle  and  warbler  feathers  one 
each  for  the  sun,  moon  and  "God;"1  two  for  the  eagles,  but  without  the 
yellow  warbler  feathers,  and  four  for  the  four  cardinal  ixrints.  When  I 
asked  him  why  he  had  not  made  one  for  Spider  Woman,  he  rxelaimcd: 
"O  my,  I  forgot  that  I"  The  prayer  offerings  to  the  eagles  he  handed  to 
Tuwahoyniwa. 

I  noticed  a  small  quantity  of  food  in  a  bowl,  and  was  told  that  it 
was  to  be  deposited  in  some  shrine  as  an  offering  to  the  sun. 

Among  the  prayer  offerings  were  also  four  artificial  ears  of  corn, 
about  five  inches  long  and  about  one  and  one  quarter  inches  thick, 
made  of  cottonwood  root.  But  my  notes  do  not  state  just  when  and 
by  whom  they  were  made  (see  Plate  LVI). 

At  about  one  o'clock  they  had  finished  the  prayer  offerings,  placed 
them  on  trays,  swept  the  floor  and  partook  of  a  meal.  When  they  were 
through  Qomaho  got  a  medicine  bowl,  six  ears  of  corn,  six  makwanpis 
(called  husbands  of  the  corn-ears),2  six  old  small  nakwakwosis,  and  six 
small  stones,  different  herbs,  etc.  Of  the  herbs  he  placed  some  into  the 
bowl  and  rubbed  some  on  the  corn-cars  which  he  arranged  around  the 
bowl,  and  also  poured  some  water  into  the  bowl.  He  then  put  into  the 
bowl  a  peculiar  green  object  which  looked  like  a  piece  of  jade  probably 
about  two  inches  long  and  one  and  a  half  inches  wide,  but  of  irregular 
shape.  It  had  some  carvings  on  one  side.  I  had  noticed  this  object 
in  other  ceremonies  of  this  society  before.     Lomahungwa  also  put 

1  This  man  had  been  critically  ill  tome  years  previously.  Missionaries  had  prayed  with  him  and 
told  him  to  pray  to  God.  He  says  he  did  so  and  got  well,  and  after  that  I  have  found  him  on  several 
occasions,  when  he  made  prayer  offerings  for  his  deities,  to  also  prepare  some  for  "God"  and  for 
"Jesus"  because  "they  made  him  well."  The  same  trend  of  thought,  as  among  the  Athenians  who 
built  an  altar  '  'to  the  unknown  God." 

*  These  objects  consist  of  a  hollow  stick  about  six  inches  long,  the  ends  of  which  are  sometimes 
open,  sometimes  covered  with  a  piece  of  bucksin.  To  one  end  arc  fastened  a  number  of  feathers  by 
twine  which  is  wound  all  over  the  sticks. 


132    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XI. 

what  seemed  to  be  an  herb  or  powder  into  the  bowl.  He  also  got  his 
omawtapi,  a  large,  cone-shaped  pipe  or  cloud  blower,  ready,  made  a  small 
sand  hill  of  the  sand  that  Masaveima  had  previously  gotten  and  placed 
his  tiponi  into  it.  The  corn-ear  of  this  sacred  object  protruded  pretty 
well,  the  corn  from  it  having  disappeared;  the  feathers  were  also  badly 
moth-eaten. 

When  the  altar  was  finished,  the  tray  with  the  prayer  offerings  being 
placed  north  of  the  tiponi,  the  men  arranged  themselves  around  the 
altar.  Lomahungwa  first  lit  the  cloud  blower,  blowing  the  smoke  into 
the  medicine  bowl,  whereupon  a  number  of  songs  were  chanted;  Loma- 
hungwa and  Siviletstiwa  shook  mosililis  (shell  rattles),  the  others 
waved  eagle  feathers  to  the  time  of  the  singing. 

First  song:  Tuwahoyniwa  stands  and  waves  two  long  buzzard  wing 
feathers  up  and  down  to  the  time  of  the  singing,  throwing  a  pinch  of 
ashes  on  them  at  intervals,  dusting  it  off  towards  the  door  six  times. 

Second  song:  Tuwahoyniwa  takes  meal  from  the  tray  and  rubs  four 
meal  lines  on  the  four  walls  of  the  house,  first  on  the  north,  then  on  the 
west,  south  and  finally  on  the  east  wall,  and  also  between  the  white  and 
black  and  blue  and  red  corn-ears  on  the  floor.  He  then  takes  a  seat  with 
the  others  and  also  shakes  a  shell  rattle. 

Third  song:  Qomaho  sprinkles  some  sacred  meal  and  corn-pollen 
along  the  old  makwanpis  into  the  bowl  and  then  throws  the  small 
stone  lying  by  the  side  of  the  makwanpi  into  the  bowl . 

Fourth  song:  Qomaho  picks  up  the  old  makwanpis  again,  sprinkles 
meal  and  pollen  along  them  and  then  throws  the  old  small  nakwakwosis, 
that  have  been  lying  by  the  side  of  the  makwanpis,  into  the  bowl,  each 
time  whistling  into  the  bowl  with  an  eagle  bone  whistle. 

Fifth  song:  Qomaho  wipes  the  chewed  roots  from  the  corn-ears,  one 
after  another,  into  the  medicine  bowl.  During  a  brief  pause  Qomaho 
picks  up  all  the  ears  of  corn  and  holds  them,  points  downward,  into  the 
medicine  bowl.  Talasnomtiwa  picks  up  two  of  the  old  makwanpis, 
holds  them  horizontally  on  two  sides  of  the  corn-ears,  grasping  at  the 
same  time  the  rim  of  the  bowl  with  both  hands,  and  then  the 

Sixth  song  is  intoned,  during  which  Qomaho  asperges  with  each 
corn-ear  into  the  air,  beginning  with  the  yellow  one  which  he  replaces 
to  the  north  side  of  the  bowl  and  then  with  the  rest  in  the  usual  order. 
Qomaho 's  meal  tray  was  placed  towards  Lomahungwa  who  sprinkled 
meal  towards  the  bowl.     Qomaho  asperges,  and  then  the 

Seventh  song  commences.  Lomahungwa  now  sprinkles  meal  along 
each  corn-car  into  the  medicine  bowl.     Qomaho  asperges. 

Eighth,  ninth,  tenth  and  eleventh  songs:  Nothing  occurred  except 
occasional  asperging  by  old  Qomaho  with  the  usual  aspergill,  which 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  133 

consists  of  a  hollow  stick  about  seven  inches  long  with  feathers  at  one 
end  and  wound  with  twine.  When  the  last  song  was  ended  all  said 
kwakwai,  (thanks!),  held  a  pinch  of  meal  to  their  lips,  whisjxred 
a  prayer,  and  sprinkled  the  meal  into  the  bowl  and  on  the  tray  with 
the  offerings.  All  then  smoked,  whereupon  Lomahungwa  uttered  a 
short  prayer,  to  which  the  others  responded  by  saying,  kwakwai 
(thanks!)  which  ends  the  ceremony. 

This  may  perhaps  be  a  proper  place  to  state  that  most  of  the  songs 
of  the  Flute  societies  are  chanted  in  a  language  which  is  no  longer  under- 
stood by  the  Hopi.  Some  were  in  the  Hopi  language.  On  several 
occasions  the  men  had  great  difficulty  to  sing  the  songs,  in  fact  had  to 
stop  and  repeat  parts  of  the  song  several  times.  They  complained 
that  their  best  singer  was  not  there.  These  facts  may  account  for  the 
uneven  number  of  songs.  In  my  opinion  there  should  be  either  twelve 
or  sixteen. 

The  altar  was  now  dismantled.  Qomaho  poured  out  the  water 
from  the  medicine  bowl  and  took  out  the  sand;  Tuwahoyniwa  tied  up 
the  corn -ears,  Lomahungwa  made  four  small  balls  and  one  bigger  one 
of  sweet -corn  meal,  into  which  he  mixed  the  food  for  the  sun  already 
mentioned,  and  wrapped  them  in  a  blanket.  He  also  used  some  honey. 
Whether  he  mixed  this  with  the  food  balls  or  put  it  into  a  corn-husk, 
to  be  used  by  the  depositor  of  the  balls,  escaped  my  observation.  These 
balls,  as  well  as  all  the  bahos  and  other  prayer  offerings,  were  later 
carried  to  different,  more  or  less  distant,  shrines  and  springs,  but  most 
of  them  to  the  Tawa-ki  (Sun  Shrine)  on  a  mesa  about  four  miles  south- 
east of  Oraibi,  where  hundreds  of  prayer  offerings  in  all  stages  of  decay 
may  be  seen.  Lomahungwa  reserved  one  baho  and  some  corn -meal 
for  his  field. 

It  might  be  of  ^interest  to  state  also  to  what  clans  the  participants  of 
this  brief  ceremony  belonged.  As  far  as  I  have  recorded  it,  this  clan 
relationship  is  as  follows: 

Batki  (Water-house)  clan:  Lomahungwa  (chief  priest),  Sivinomtiwa. 
Siviletstiwa. 

Honani  (Badger)  clan:  Qomaho. 

Piva  (Tobacco)  clan:  Masaveima. 

Kele  (Sparrow  Hawk)  clan:  Tuwahoyniwa,  Talasnomtiwa. 

Ishawuu  (Coyote)  clan:  Nakwahoyoma. 

Honawuu  (Bear)  clan:  Shakhungoma. 

All  these  clans  belong,  of  course,  to  certain  groups  of  clans  with  which 
they  are  directly  related.  Thus  the  Batki  (Water-house)  Pihkash 
(Young  Corn) ,  Omawu  (Cloud)  and  others  belong  to  a  group,  or  phratry . 
The  Kele  is  closely  related  to  the  Atoka  (Crane),  Batang  (Squash)  and 


134    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XI. 

others.  But  there  seems  to  be  no  word  in  the  Hopi  language  to  desig- 
nate such  a  group,  just  as  there  is  no  name  for  family,  society,  etc.  The 
Hopi  says  "Nu  Batki  wungwa,  Kel  wungwa,  etc."  I  am  Water-house 
(clan)  member,  Sparrow  Hawk  (clan)  member;  or  Plural:  Itam  Hanan, 
Hon  nyamu.  We  are  Badger,  Bear  (clan)  members;  or  he  will  speak  of 
his  wife  and  children  (not  family) ;  or  say,  Nu  Tcob  wimkya l  or  Tcowuu, 
I  am  an  Antelope  (fraternity)  member,  or  Antelope  (not  I  belong  to 
the  Antelope  society).  Questions  like:  How  many  families,  clans, 
fraternities,  etc.,  are  in  the  village?  could  not  be  asked  in  a  direct  way. 

A  certain  rather  complicated  relationship  also  exists  between  clans 
belonging  to  different  phratries.  This,  as  well  as  the  direct  relationship, 
is  recognized  and  expressed  in  all  ceremonies  when  two  or  more  partici- 
pants engage  in  smoking,  and  the  pipe  is  passed  from  one  to  another.2 
It  then  frequently  occurs  that  an  aged  priest  will  say  to  a  much  younger 
member:  ''My  father,"  "My  uncle,"  or  even  "My  grandfather,"  and 
vice  versa.  This  seems  to  be  determined,  at  least  partly,  by  the  priority 
or  age  of  the  different  gentes.  In  this  ceremony  this  exchange  of  re- 
lationship was  at  a  certain  grouping  for  a  "smoke"  as  follows: 

Lomahungwa  (Water-house)  to  Masaveima  (Tobacco) :  My  younger 
brother;    ans:  My  elder  brother. 

Tuwahoyniwa  (Sparrow  Hawk)  to  Lomahungwa  (Water-house): 
My  child;  ans:    My  father. 

Siviletstiwa  (Water-house)  to  Tuwahoyniwa  (Sparrow  Hawk): 
My  younger  brother;     ans:    My  elder  brother. 

Talasnomtiwa  (Sparrow  Hawk)  to  Siviletstiwa  (Water-house): 
My  younger  brother;     ans:    My  elder  brother. 

Nakwahoyoma  (Coyote)  to  Talasnomtiwa  (Sparrow  Hawk):  My 
child;   ans:    My  father. 

Qomaho  (Badger)  to  Nakwahoyoma  (Coyote):  My  child;  ans: 
My  father. 

Lomahungwa  (Water-house)  to  Qomaho  (Badger):  My  child;  ans: 
My  father. 

Masaveima  (Tobacco)  to  Tuwahoyniwa  (Sparrow  Hawk):  My 
father;  ans:    My  child. 

With  the  Hopi  this  clan  relationship  is  of  more  importance  than  the 
blood  relationship.  Usually,  if  one  asks  several  Hopi  how  they  are 
related  to  one  another,  they  will  give  their  clan  relationship,  in  the 
same  way  as  described  in  connection  with  ceremonial  smoking,  without, 
however,  mentioning  the  respective  clans. 

1  Wimkya,  pi.  Wiwimkya,  refers  to  membership  in  a  society  or  fraternity;  wungwa.  pi.  nyamu, 
to  clan  membership.  It  would  be  as  erroneous  to  use  nyamu  to  designate  a  group  of  clans  or  a  phratry 
as  it  would  be  to  use  wiwimkya  for  society  or  fraternity. 

2  Such  exchange  of  relationship  is  also  frequently  observed  where  one  participant  of  a  ceremony 
hands  prayer  offerings  or  other  religious  and  ceremonial  objects  to  another 


Feb.,  191 2.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  135 

THE  SUMMER  CEREMONY  OF  THE  BLUE  FLUTE 

SOCIETY. 

June  12,  1901. 

This  brief  ceremony  took  place  in  the  ancestral  home  of  this  society. 
The  following  of  the  older  members  of  the  order  took  part  in  the  cere- 
mony: 

Lomayeshtiwa,  Mokahtiwa,  Wungvnima,  Naashashtiwa,  Na6shi, 
Qoyabuya  and  Talaswungvuuma.  All  had  prepared  a  number  of 
prayer  offerings  of  different  kinds  which  were  placed  in  three  different 
trays  as  follows: 

1.  Four  artificial  ears  of  corn,  made  of  old  cottonwood  roots,  each 
about  four  and  one-half  inches  long  and  about  one  and  one-quarter 
inches  thick,  rounded  at  one  end  and  all  painted  white.  The  first 
had  yellow  dots,  the  color  of  the  north;  the  second  green,  the  color  of 
the  west;  the  third  black,  the  color  of  above;1  the  fourth  white  (a 
slightly  different  shade  than  the  body  of  the  object),  the  color  of  the 
east  (sec  Plate  LVI). 

2.  Four  flat  slabs  about  five  and  one-quarter  inches  long,  two  inches 
wide  and  about  half,  an  inch  thick  (see  Plate  LVI).  I  have  been 
repeatedly  told  that  these  slabs  which  are  also  used  in  other  ceremonies 
represent  fields.     They  are  called  tochkwa  (land  or  field). 

3.  One  so-called  wonawika  representing  a  wooden  sickle  or  knife, 
such  as  the  Hopi  are  said  to  have  used  in  olden  times,  four  and  one- 
quarter  inches  long,  one  and  one-half  inches  wide  and  one-half  inch 
thick  (sec  Plate  LVI). 

4.  Four  pikawikis,  four  by  one  by  one-half  inches.  As  far  as  I  can 
find  out  these  represent  food  for  the  cloud  deities.  In  other  ceremonies 
they  arc  sometimes  made  of  gourd  shells  or  even  of  corn-meal  dough 
(sec  Plate  LVI). 

5.  Five  black  prayer  sticks  (chochokpis)  about  six  inches  long, 
pointed  at  the  lower  end.  To  each  one  was  attached  a  turkey  feather, 
a  sprig  of  kunya,  and  one  of  maovi,2  a  small  corn-husk  pocket,  contain- 
ing corn-meal,  honey  and  a  small  duck  feather,  which  was  suspended 
by  a  cottonwood  string. 

6.  A  small  ring  made  of  wipo  (cat-tail  grass)  about  three  inches  in 
diameter,  to  which  was  also  fastened  a  small  duck  feather  nakwakwosi 
(see  Plate  LVI). 

1  It  seems  that  these  spots  should  have  been  red.  the  color  of  the  south,  but  I  have  frequently 
observed  such  apparent  inaccuracies  in  detail  in  the  preparation  of  ceremonial  objects,  arrangement  of 
altars,  etc. 

'Artemisia  frigida  and  Gutierrcxia  Euthamiss  Torr.  &  Gray. 


136    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XI. 

7.  A  cylinder  consisting  of  a  stick  of  cottonwood  root,  two  and  one- 
half  inches  long  and  about  one  inch  thick,  the  body  of  which  was 
painted  black,  the  ends  green.  To  the  centre  of  this  was  attached  a 
duck  feather  nakwakwosi  (see  Plate  LVI). 

8.  Four  double  green  sun  bahos  (prayer-sticks)  about  six  inches 
long,  to  each  of  which  two  eagle  breath  feather  nakwakwosis  were 
attached. 

9.  Two  single  warrior  bahos.  They  are  about  six  inches  long  and 
are  painted  red.  To  each  one  was  attached,  at  the  upper  end,  a  short 
eagle  wing  feather,  instead  of  the  usual  turkey  feather;  to  the  lower 
end  an  eagle  breath  feather  nakwakwosi. 

10.  A  lot  of  common  nakwakwosis  of  turkey,  eagle  and  hawk  feathers 
which  were  made  by  the  different  men,  but  just  how  many  by  each 
one  was  not  recorded,  nor  do  my  notes  state  just  who  participated  and 
to  what  extent  in  the  preparation  of  all  the  above  named  objects. 

Just  what  disposition  was  made  of  all  these  objects  could  not  be 
observed  as  the  different  shrines  and  springs,  where  they  were  deposited, 
were  much  scattered  and  some  of  them  several  miles  away.  But  from 
other  observations  and  information  obtained  the  sun  bahos  and  prob- 
ably the  war  baho  and  some  nakwakwosis  were  taken  to  some  Tawa-ki 
(Sun  Shrine),  some  prayer  offerings  to  Lanva  (Flute  Spring)  west  of 
Oraibi,  and  probably  to  Achamali,  a  shrine  north  of  the  village;  the 
wooden  objects  to  Sikakwu  Baho-ki,  an  old  shrine  on  the  mesa  about 
four  miles  east  of  the  village. 


V.     FOUR   HOPI   TALES 

BY 

H.    R.    VOTH. 


1.    THE  GIRL  THAT  WAS  SAVED  BY  THE  WREN.1 

In  Oraibi  (they)  lived.  At  the  place  where  now  Kohtutwa  (Found 
Wood)  lives,  lived  a  man,  his  wife  and  their  daughter.  It  was  winter 
and  there  was  snow.  The  parents  wanted  to  go  and  get  wood,  and  said 
to  their  daughter,  that  she  should  prepare  food  for  them.  But  after 
they  had  left,  the  girl  played  all  day  in  a  corner  of  the  house  and  the  steps 
with  sheep  bones,  which  were  people  and  for  whom  she  built  a  house, 
talking  to  them  all  day.  So  when  her  parents  returned  in  the  evening 
they  found  nothing  to  eat  and  the  mother  had  to  get  fire  and  prepare 
a  meal  herself.  She  was  tired  and  angry.  The  next  morning  they 
went  after  wood  again,  and  again  told  the  girl  to  prepare  food  for  them. 
"But  you  must  do  it  this  time,"  the  mother  said,  "because  I  shall  be 
tired."  But  when  they  returned  in  the  evening  they  found  their 
daughter  still  playing  at  the  same  place.  The  mother  was  very  angry. 
When  she  had  laid  down  the  wood  she  grabbed  the  girl  by  the  belt, 
tore  it  off,  tore  off  her  dress  and  then  threw  her  through  a  hatch-way 
into  a  lower  room,  covering  the  hatch- way  with  the  stone  cover.  When 
they  were  eating  late  the  father  asked  where  their  daughter  was,  since 
she  had  not  come  in.  "Why,  she  has  gone  somewhere,"  the  mother 
said  "because  she  has  not  come  in."  The  parents  finally  went  to 
sleep.  The  girl  in  her  lower  room  hunted  for  a  blanket  and  finally 
found  a  small  one  in  which  she  wrapped  herself  up  and  also  went  to 
sleep.  In  the  morning  the  parents  again  went  after  wood  without 
asking  for  their  daughter.  She  staid  in  the  room  all  day  and  slept 
there  again  the  next  night,  the  parents  going  after  wood  "again  the 
following  morning.  Thus  the  girl  remained  in  the  room  three  days 
and  three  nights.  On  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  she  was  very 
hungry,  as  she  had  not  eaten  anything  for  a  long  time.  She  was  very 
tired  and  was  lying  down.  In  the  north  wall  was  a  small  opening. 
All  at  once  she  saw  something  sitting  in  the  opening.  It  came  in  and 
when  the  girl  looked  up  she  saw  it  jumping  up  and  down  on  the  floor, 
leave  the  room,  and  come  back  again.  It  wasaTQchvo  (Wren).  Final- 
ly the  Wren  came  close  to  her  and  said  "Alas!  that  you  arc  here  that 
way;  but  just  continue  here  that  way,  I  shall  go  and  hunt  something 
for  you."  The  Wren  soon  returned  with  a  string  of  ears  of  sweet 
corn.     "Here,  eat  this,"  the  bird  said,  "and  then  you  must  go  out  and 

'  Compare  tale  No.  15.  page  71.  in  "The  Traditions  of  the  Hopi"  by  H.  R.  Voth.  published  by 
The  Field  Museum. 

139 


140    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XI. 

come  to  the  gap  north-east  of  the  village,  where  I  shall  be  waiting 
for  you."  The  girl  ate  the  corn  and  then  removing  the  stone  cover 
from  the  hatch-way,  climbed  out.  Her  parents  were  eating  their 
morning  meal  near  the  fire-place.  She  was  using  the  little  blanket  as 
a  loin  cloth.  She  passed  her  parents  and  went  out.  "Where  are  you 
going?"  her  father  said.  "Oh  my,  that  you  did  not  tell  me  about 
yourself."  The  girl  went  down  and  around  the  east  side  of  the  village. 
"Don't  go  away,"  her  mother  said.  The  girl  proceeded,  weeping  as 
follows : 

Hao  inguu! 

Oh  my  mother! 
Um  nui  mava,  mava 

You  me  refused,  refused 
Owata,  kwawata, 

Bridal  robe,  (and)  belt. 
Um  nui  mava,  mava, 
You  me  refused,  refused. 

The  people  on  the  housetops  saw  her,  and  some  were  angry.  AH 
at  once  they  saw  the  Kokoshori  Katcina  meet'  the  girl,  take  her  on  his 
back,  and  take  her  away.  The  Wren  had  sent  the  Katcina.  In  a 
little  while  they  came  upon  a  batu-vota  (water  shield)  which  they 
mounted.  They  were  then  carried  away  to  Kishiwuu  where  they 
arrived  in  a  little  while.  They  came  to  a  spring  which  was  the  door 
to  their  kiva.  This  door  the  Kokoshori  opened  and  they  entered. 
The  Hahaii  Wuhti  lived  there  with  the  Kokoshori,  and  beside  her 
very  many  Katcinas.  It  was  winter,  but  they  fed  the  girl  water- 
melons, muskmelons,  roasting  ears,  etc.  When  they  had  eaten,  all 
the  Katcinas  danced  all  day  and  were  very  happy,  because  the  Koko- 
shori had  now  a  child.  They  brought  much  sweet-corn  and  gave 
it  to  the  girl.  Every  evening  they  had  a  dance.  At  last  the  girl  had 
grown  up  to  be  a  maiden. 

The  Kokoshori  often  went  to  Oraibi  and  saw  that  the  girl's  mother 
was  very  homesick.  She  did  not  go  anywhere,  but  was  lying  down 
all  the  time.  One  time  the  Kokoshori  said  to  the  maiden  "Your 
mother  is  very  lonely  and  is  crying.  We  shall  take  you  to  her."  The 
girl  cried  and  did  not  want  to  go.  But  the  Katcinas  said  they  would 
pity  her  and  visit  her  sometimes.  One  time  all  the  Katcinas  dressed 
up  and  took  the  maiden  to  the  village.  When  they  arrived  they 
danced  at  the  place  where  the  Wikolapi  kiva  now  is.  While  they 
danced  some  of  the  women  recognized  the  maiden  and  told  her  mother. 
The  latter  would  not  believe  it.   "My  daughter  is  gone,"  she  said. 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  141 

Her  hair  was  all  tangled  up,  as  she  had  not  combed  it  for  a  long  time. 
The  Katcinas  then  danced  north  of  the  village.  The  father  said, 
"May  be  it  is  her.  I  shall  go  and  see."  He  looked  and  saw  that  it 
was  their  daughter.  He  was  very  happy.  He  at  once  made  bahos 
and  nakwakwosis.  When  he  was  done  he  went  down  and  gave  them 
to  the  Katcinas. 

2.    HOW  A  LITTLE  TURTLE  DECEIVED  THE  COYOTE. 

At  Sakwa-vayu  (Blue  Water),  near  Winslow,  some  people  were 
living.  In  the  river  lived  many  Turtles.  Near  by  lived  the  Coyote. 
He  coveted  the  Turtles,  and  was  wondering  where  they  lived.  He 
hunted  all  around  the  village,  but  could  find  only  some  turtle  shells. 
He  took  some  of  them  in  his  mouth  and  went  away.  Approaching 
the  river  he  heard  some  one  cry.  He  came  near  and  saw  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  river,  in  the  shade  of  some  brush,  a  small  Turtle  which 
drew  itself  into  its  shell  when  he  approached. 

The  Coyote  came  close  by,  took  the  Turtle  into  his  mouth,  turned 
it  over  and  said:  "So  it  was  you  that  said  something  here."  "Yes," 
the  Turtle  replied.  "What  did  you  say?"  the  Coyote  asked.  "I 
cried,"  the  Turtle  answered.  "Why?"  the  Coyote  asked.  "You  sang 
nicely.  Sing  for  me  again."  "Oh  no,  I  cried,"  the  Turtle  said.  "But 
you  must  sing  again.  You  sang  so  nicely.  If  you  don't,  I  shall  devour 
you."  "  But  I  do  not  want  to.  My  mother  has  gone  away,  and  there- 
fore I  cried.  I  shall  not  cry  for  you  again."  "Very  well,  I  shall 
devour  you  then."  "All  right,  that  will  not  hurt  me."  "I  shall 
throw  you  on  the  hot  ground."  "Very  well,  that  will  not  hurt  me." 
"Well  now,  why  do  you  not  want  to  sing?  If  you  refuse  I  shall  throw 
you  into  the  water."  "Paiu,  (oh  my),  do  not  do  that,  for  I  shall  then 
die  at  once."  The  Coyote  then  rushed  at  the  Turtle,  grabbed  it  and 
threw  it  into  the  water.  When  it  reached  the  water  the  Turtle  ex- 
claimed, "Ali!  (good)!  This  is  my  house,"  stretched  its  feet  and  head, 
dived  down,  came  up  again,  and  swam  away.  "Oh  my!"  the  Coyote 
exclaimed,  "Why  did  I  not  devour  it?"  And  on  that  account  the 
turtles  still  live  in  the  water. 

3.    THE  LITTLE  LOCUST  HUNTER. 

In  all  the  villages  the  people  were  living:  in  Shongopavi,  Oraibi, 
Shupaulavi,  Mishongnovi,  Walpi,  Sichcomovi,  and  Hano.  The  Hopi 
relished  locusts  very  much  and  hunted  them  in  the  fields.  There  was 
some  shiwahpi  (Chrysothamnus  Howardii  Torry,  Gray)  at  one  place, 


142    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XL 

and  on  top  of  one  of  the  brushes  sat  a  locust,  and  a  boy  wanted  to 
capture  the  locust.     The  locust  was  singing  the  following  song: 

Mahu,  mahu,  mahu,  mahu, 
Locust,  locust,  locust,  locust. 

Lalena,  lalena,  lalena,  lalena, 
Flutes,  flutes,  flutes,  flutes. 

Shiwap  chokit,  ovek  chokiokango, 

On  (the)  sage  (?)  he  sits,  on  top  he  is  sitting, 

Lalena,  lalena, 
Flutes,  flutes, 

Aapiyo  hongiomakang, 
Off,  being  fleet. 

Rup!  (Imitation  of  the  noise  of  the  wings). 

As  he  was  singing  the  word  "rup,"  he  flew  away.  When  he  flew 
away  the  boy,  not  being  quick  enough,  was  very  sorry.  "Aya!"  he 
said,  because  he  had  not  caught  him. 

Told  by  Lomaventiwa. 


4.    TRADITION  ABOUT  SEVERAL  MISHONGNOVI 

CLANS. 

The  Batki  clan  and  Sand  clan  come  from  Palatkwabi.  The  Sand 
clan  is  also  called  Snake  and  Lizard  clan,  because  the  snakes  and  lizards 
live  in  the  sand.  When  traveling  they  sometimes  halted,  and  the 
Sand  clan  would  spread  sand  on  the  ground  and  plant  corn.  The 
Batki  clan  would  sing  and  thereby  cause  it  to  thunder  and  to  rain, 
and  the  crop  would  grow  in  a  day,  and  they  would  have  something  to 
eat.  At  Homolovi  (Winslow)  they  lived  a  long  time.  They  brought 
with  them  the  Soyal  Yunga,  the  Lagon  Yunga,  and  the  Soyal  Katcina. 
They  then  went  to  Aoatovi.  Here  the  people  did  not  want  them,  and 
hence  they  moved  on  to  Mishongnovi,  where  they  found  the  Bear, 
Pat  rot,  and  Crow  clans.  They  were  asked  what  they  knew  to  produce 
rain  and  crops.  They  spread  the  sand  and  made  corn  grow,  whereupon 
they  were  welcomed  and  their  leader  was  made  the  chief  of  the  village. 

The  spring  Toreva  was  then  very  small.  But  the  Batki  clan  had 
brought  from  the  Little  Colorado  river  mud,  grass  and  water  in  mung- 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  143 

wikurus  (netted  gourd  vessels).  This  they  put  into  the  spring  and 
that  increased  the  flow  of  the  water.  Formerly  there  was  also  much 
grass  around  it  when  there  were  fewer  burros  than  there  are  now.  The 
Bear  clan  had  the  Antelope  altar,  the  Parrot  and  the  Crow  clans  the 
Blue  Flute  cult.  The  Crane  and  the  Eagle  clans  had  the  position  of 
the  Village  crier  and  the  Drab  Flute  cult.  The  Batki  were  admitted 
to  the  Antelope  and  Blue  Flute  fraternities,  and  hence,  the  narrater 
said,  he  makes  the  cloud  symbols  in  the  ceremony  of  the  Blue  Flute 
society. 

After  that  the  Pihkash  (Young  Corn-Ear)  or  Kao  (Corn-Ear) 
clan  came  from  the  cast,  from  the  Pueblos,  Sikdnakpu  thinks.  Accord- 
ing to  him  the  earlier  clans  came  to  Mishongnovi  as  follows: 

1.  The  Parrot  and  Crow  clans  who  had  the  Blue  Flute  cult  and 
the  village  chief. 

2.  The  Bear  elan  who  brought  the  Antelope  altar,  now  used  in  the 
Snake  ceremony. 

3.  The  Crane  and  Eagle  clans,  who  brought  the  Drab  Flute  and 
Marau  cult  and  had  the  Village  crier. 

4.  The  Katcina  clan  with  the  Katcinas. 

5.  The  Sand  clan  with  the  Lagon,  Soyal  and  Snake  cult. 

6.  The  Batki  clan.  These  had  no  altar,  but  controlled  the  water 
and  helped  to  make  it  rain. 

7.  The  Young  Corn-Ear  clan.  These  had  no  altar  of  their  own, 
but  brought  a  better  quality  of  corn  and  made  the  corn  grow. 

Before  the  Batki  people  came,  the  corn  was  very  small.  They 
made  it  rain  and  so  it  grew  large.  The  Pihkash  clan  brought  better 
and  larger  corn  with  them. 

Told  by  Sikdnakpu. 


VI.     HOPI    MARRIAGE   RITES   ON   THE   WEDDING 

MORNING 


BY 
H.    R.    VOTH. 


HOPI  MARRIAGE  RITES  ON  THE  WEDDING 
MORNING. 

As  the  heading  indicates  this  brief  sketch  does  not  intend  to  describe, 
even  briefly,  an  entire  Hopi  marriage  ceremony,  which  includes  different 
preparations,  rites,  etc.,  iunning  through  several  months.1  It  simply 
gives  the  proceedings  and  rites  of  the  morning  of  the  wedding  day 
proper,  after  which  the  contracting  parties  are  considered  married, 
subsequent  observances  and  customs  (that  still  form  a  part  of  the 
entire  marriage  ceremony)  notwithstanding. 

The  author  was  well  acquainted  with  the  young  people  and  all 
that  were  present.  The  wedding  took  place  in  Oraibi  in  the  home  of 
the  groom's  uncle  and  aunt,  his  parents  having  died  long  before.  This 
aunt  was  the  sister  of  the  village  chief,  and  of  the  chief  priest  of  the 
Soyal  fraternity,  who  at  the  same  time  was  also  a  member  of  various 
other  societies.  She  is  probably  the  most  important  woman  of  the 
village,  and  I  have  seen  her  figure  very  conspicuously  in  different 
secret  religious  ceremonies,  especially  in  the  Soyal  and  Marau.  When 
her  sister,  the  mother  of  the  groom,  died  years  ago,  she  adopted 
all  the  orphan  children,  I  think  seven  in  number,  and  was  to  them  a 
real  mother.  She  had  no  children  of  her  own.  Her  husband  is  also 
one  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  village  and  of  the  Soyal  society. 

The  marriage  took  place  on  March  i,  1904,  and  the  following  persons 
were  present: 

Talaskwaptiwa,  Tawa  (Sun)  clan,  stepfather  of  the  groom. 

Pungnyanomsi,  Honawu  (Bear)  clan,  stepmother  of  the  groom. 

Sivanka,  Ishawuu  (Coyote)  clan,  mother  of  the  bride. 

Xukwamosi,  Ishawuu  (Coyote)  clan,  grandmother  of  bride  on 
mother's  side. 

Sakwmosi,  Ishawuu  (Coyote)  clan. 

Bayamka,  Ishawuu  (Coyote)  clan. 

Xuvavanka,  Ishawuu  (Coyote)  clan. 

Kiwanhoynom,  Ishawuu  (Coyote)  clan. 

Mosinomka,  Tuwa  (Sand)  clan. 

Nasingyaonom,  Honani  (Badger)  clan,  grandmother  of  bride  on 
father's  side. 

Honanmana,  Ishawuu  (Bear)  clan. 

•See  the  author's  "Oraibi  Marriage  Customs."  American  Anthropologist.  Vol.  II.  April-June.  looo. 

147 


148    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XL 

Kiwanhongka,  Ishawuu  (Bear)  clan,  opened  bride's  hair. 

Motooma,  Ishawuu  (Bear)  clan,  groom. 

Tobangyamsi,  Ishawuu  (Coyote)  clan,  bride. 

We  proceeded  to  the  house  at  four  a.  m.  The  mother  and  the 
grandmother  of  the  bride  (the  latter  on  the  mother's  side)  just  arrived. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  house  were  still  abed,  but  all  said  that  they  had 
been  waiting  for  us.  The  bride  slept  at  the  home  of  the  parents  (step- 
parents in  this  case)  of  her  future  husband,  where  she  had  been  taken 
by  her  mother  thiee  days  previously,  and  had  ground  corn  during  that 
time.  Pungnyanomsi,  the  groom's  aunt  (mother)  at  once  got  some 
sticks  of  wood  from  outside  and  built  a  fire  in  the  fire-place  in  one  of 
the  corners  of  the  room,  another  fire  having  already  been  built  in 
the  stove.  Both  mothers  then  took  their  places  near  the  fire-place 
where  they  commenced  to  make  suds  in  two  large  bowls  of  yucca 
plant  roots  that  were  first  mashed  by  stones,  Nasingyaonom  and 
the  sister  of  Pungnyanomsi  taking  a  place  beside  them.  Several  of  the 
women  were  sitting  on  the  west  wall,  near  the  stove.  While  the  two 
women  were  preparing  the  suds,  Kiwanhongka  opened  the  bride's 
hair.  At  about  half  past  four  Motooma  came  in.  The  couple  then 
knelt  on  a  pelt  before  the  two  bowls,  the  bride  before  the  bowl  of  her 
future  mother-in-law,  and  the  groom  before  that  of  his  future  mother- 
in-law.  The  two  women  then  commenced  to  wash  the  heads  of  the 
couple,  but  in  this  all  the  women  participated.  Usually  the  hair 
of  the  young  couple  is  then  washed  thoroughly  together  in  each  bowl, 
and  this  hair  washing,  and  especially  the  washing  of  the  two  heads  in 
the  same  bowl,  is  said  to  be  the  "crucial  moment"  in  which  the  two  are 
supposed  to  "become  one."  In  this  case,  as  also  in  others  where  the 
groom's  hair  had  been  cut,  this  mutual  washing  was  dispensed  with, 
which  caused  some  remarks,  teasing  and  laughter,  and  the  suggestion 
whether  he  could  really  be  considered  as  having  been  married.  After 
they  were  through,  another  woman  came  in  and  the  bridegroom  had 
to  come  forward  and  submit  to  another  washing.  He  was  in  his  usual 
working  clothes  and  the  bride  was  robed  in  an  atoe  (white  ceremonial 
blanket  with  red  and  blue  border). 

When  they  were  through  the  young  man  seated  himself  on  the 
west  side  of  the  room  quite  a  little  distance  from  the  stove,  while  the 
bride  seated  herself  behind  and  close  to  the  stove.  Pungnyanomsi 
got  a  bowl  into  which  the  suds  were  poured  and  carried  it  out  later 
on.  There  were  present  in  all  about  eleven  women,  the  husband 
of  Pungnyanomsi  being  the  only  man  present.  The  father  of  the 
bride  usually  does  not  come  until  later. 

After  the  bowls  had  been  emptied  and  fresh  water  poured  into  them 


Feb.,  1912.       Miscellaneous  Hopi  Papers  —  Voth.  149 

Pungnyanomsi  took  off  the  atoe  of  the  bride  and  invited  her  to  come  to 
the  bowl  again,  where  the  upper  part  of  her  body  was  bathed,  the 
bride  washing  her  arms  herself.  The  bridegroom  somewhat  protested 
saying  the  water  was  too  cold.  He  seemed  to  be  at  first  embar- 
rassed to  take  off  his  shirt,  and  so  the  women  suggested  that  he  go 
outside  and  take  a  bath  there,  which  I  have  also  observed  in  other 
cases.  Several  women  again  assisted  in  the  bathing  of  the  bride,  also 
washing  her  feet  after  they  had  bathed  the  upper  part  of  her  body  and 
her  arms.  It  took  quite  a  while  before  the  young  man  could  make  up 
his  mind  to  submit  to  the  bathing.  He  protested,  saying  that  the  water 
was  too  cold,  he  had  taken  a  bath  the  previous  evening,  etc.;  but 
finally,  after  being  encouraged  on  all  sides,  he  cast  off  his  shirt,  knelt 
down  at  his  bowl,  then  all  the  women  participated  in  rubbing  his  body 
thoroughly.  The  delay  was  accompanied  by  a  good  deal  of  joking  and 
hilarity  on  the  part  of  the  women.  While  he  was  being  bathed  his 
bride  was  again  sitting  behind  the  stove  drying  her  hair.  The  second 
addition  of  the  water  was  again  poured  into  the  tin  pail. 

As  soon  as  the  bathing  was  over  all  the  women  left  except  the 
mother  of  the  bride  and  Kuktiwa's  wife.  At  about  five  o'clock,  as 
soon  as  the  hair  of  the  young  people  was  somewhat  dry,  Pungnyanomsi 
handed  them  a  pinch  of  corn-meal,  whereupon  they  went  outside  and 
sprinkled  the  corn-meal  towards  the  dawn  that  was  appearing  in  the 
east.  They  did  this  standing  on  the  edge  of  the  house,  instead  of  going 
to  the  edge  of  the  mesa  as  is  usually  the  case.  When  they  came  in 
Pungnyanomsi  put  some  meal  into  a  bowl  which  the  young  bride 
commenced  to  knead.  When  she  was  through  she  made  piki  of  this 
dough,  and  then  assisted  in  the  preparing  of  the  morning  meal  which 
is  really  the  wedding  feast  and  for  which  other  friends  and  relatives, 
also  the  bride's  father  came  in. 

After  this  feast  cotton  was  distributed  to  the  friends  and  relatives 
of  the  young  couple  as  usual,  who  then  prepare,  during  the  following 
six  to  eight  weeks,  the  bridal  costume  which  is  used  in  another  part  of 
the  general  marriage  ceremony. 


